


Alpha's Conquest

by Immortalpen



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, F/M, Possessive Kylo Ren, Predator Kylo, Rape/Non-con Elements, dark au, death and destruction, hunted Rey, terrorist activities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-10-23 10:50:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 63,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17682041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Immortalpen/pseuds/Immortalpen
Summary: In a dystopian world, far far away, a war between designations has left alpha's medicated and conditioned out of their instincts, and omegas fading out of existence.An escaped convict discovers a rare omega, hidden in plain sight, and he will not rest, until she is his.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> This is a completely new genre for me, and to be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's a bit of a mash up - futuristic society, abo, the force is in there somewhere... some star wars elements, some original... it's a bit of a mess, but hopefully an enjoyable one?
> 
> Started as stress relief 'just for fun' writing, as a break from more serious stories, but has grown into a 50,000 word monster. A friend's prompt to try out abo - I just hope she enjoys the mess she has inspired. 
> 
> More tags to follow, but expect the usual abo kinkiness. 
> 
> Regarding non-con, I am warning straight away, as Kylo Ren is the villain in this one, and Rey doesn't not like him, even if the biological elements make hooking up seem palatable - for the beginning anyway - it's non-con. 
> 
> This is a pretty dark story, and the world it is set in is dark also. Mind the tags.

 

 

“This is the Phantom Traveller, requesting clearance for landing, authorisation codes to follow” Rey Niima spoke crisply into her head set, as she sat at her captain’s right hand.

“Good Niima, how send them through, and let’s get this party started” Captain Dameron wasn’t exactly a standard captain. For starters, he was about 10 years younger than any she’d ever had before, and with his dashing dark good looks, he was certainly more charming than anyone she had met in all her time in the academy.

 

Outside the viewport, a moon floated before them, a pale white blue, it seemed to glow from within. Rey typed in the code, and waited for authorisation.

 

“So, any plans this weekend?” Captain Dameron asked, leaning away from the controls to angle a look at her. She ignored his probing stare.

 

“I have an exam to study for” she said, already anticipating the quiet of her small apartment in the barracks. Moving out of military dorms when she’d graduated, top of her class, she had decided to stay on base in subsidised housing, closer to the action. In truth she felt no compulsion to be out in the city and alone. She had spent half her life like that, and now, she liked being around others who had the same purpose as her.

 

“You have to be careful Rey… if you don’t make more of an effort… people will start to suspect the truth about you” Dameron said it lightly, but the words sent a prickle of alarm over Rey, and she turned and looked at him.

 

“Know what?” she asked, striving for nonchalance. His dark eyes were fixed on hers, warm and inviting, his grin was well known around the base for cause pants and morals to drop.

 

“That you aren’t like us…” he murmured, clearly still enjoying his teasing, while Rey felt hot and cold flash through her in turns. Sweat broke out on her palms.

 

“That you’re a robot… sent from the future, programmed to show everyone else up” he finished, and Rey could hardly help the sigh of relief that escaped her at his words.

 

“Right, I’ll get on that… be more of a slacker”

 

“That’s an order, Officer Niima”

 

“Captain” she agreed, turning back to the moon, now close enough to make out the low squat architecture of life there.

 

“Call me Poe”

 

“I’d love to, but my programming won’t allow it.” Rey teased back, as a message flashed before her eyes from the penal colony below.

 

“We are cleared for landing, Captain”

 

“Very well, let’s get this over with” Dameron said, turning in his seat, and becoming professional once more. This was not a mission to mess around on. Prisoner transport was always nerve wracking, and this prisoner was more nerve wracking than most.

 

Kylo Ren.

A prominent figure of the terrorist group known as the First Order. They had emerged from the ashes of the Rising, from the damaged lost souls who had survived to find a new world of order and control, control over Alphas, and they hadn’t liked it.

Most of the First Order were Alphas, displaced from their lives, missing the power they used to wield. They carried out attacks on civilian targets to get their message across, and attacked the government at every opportunity.

Kylo Ren, though young, was one of the most recognisable figures of the organisation, with his propensity to wear black, and his height and stature setting him apart, even in a group of Alphas, who always tended to be large and strong. He was a killer and a master manipulator who had no regard for human life.

A few years before, he had murdered the much adorned beta Prime Minster, broken into his house late at night and slipping through numerous safety measures without detection, had slit his throat, and then quartered him. The savagery of the act was chilling. Rey could still remember the grainy pictures that had appeared of Kylo Ren bending over the body of the dead man, the symbol of hope for their city, all recorded live for broadcast over the holonet.

He had been caught, but Rey had found the entire thing strange. If he had gotten into the secure building so easily, how he couldn’t escape before being caught was odd, but after he was sentenced, news of him died down, and she had forgotten about it, moved onto the newest elected Prime Minister, Snoke.

Though older than his predecessor, Snoke had none of the frailty that one would imagine from a man his age. He was a Beta, though he had the stature of an Alpha, tall beyond imagining, though now, stooping a little with age. Rey didn’t particularly like him, and she didn’t know why. Something in his eyes, or his calculating smile, but she knew politicians were untrustworthy, and left it at that.

Kylo Ren had been sentenced to life on the Barrens.

Apparently, even that wasn’t good enough to contain him, for now, she and Captain Dameron were to escort him to on world, for another trial, one that would result in his execution, the verdict of guilty being a foregone conclusion. No one wanted Kylo Ren alive, well, no one in power, therefore, for whatever reason they cooked up, by this time next week, he wouldn’t be.

Rey didn’t like to read into things too much. She knew the problems of the city, since the Rising. Other cities had survived like theirs, safe havens for those hoping to escape the aggressive and feral remains of the old system, who lingered outside the city walls. Even inside the walls, people still suffered. She knew better than most the conditions many had to live in. The world they now lived in was not a kind place, if it ever had been. The government did what they could to make it safer for those who could follow the rules and contribute. People like Kylo Ren did nothing but incite hate and violence. Good citizens kept their heads down and did their jobs, and did not attract attention to themselves. The strategy worked well, and it was how Rey had survived, all those years ago.

 

For, Rey Niima had a secret.

 

"Barrens command, touching down, prepare security protocols” Captain Dameron said into his head set, as they descended toward the landing pad of the prison.

 

Impenetrable walls of steel and stone rose around them as they lowered into the pit, belching steam into the frigid air. Heavy doors in the ceiling slowly opened beneath them, allowing them further into the underground belly of the most vile and forgotten prison in existence.

 

"Prisoner transfer protocol initiated, await further instruction” the voice on the radio said, as Rey finished powering down the ship, running a diagnostic on all systems. The last thing they wanted was ship trouble, with Kylo Ren aboard.

 

“So, hardly a vacation spot, is it?” Dameron muttered, looking around the intimating landing pad they were on. Outside, crystals of ice hung from sharp spikes, set at even intervals along the roof, and freezing wind rocked the ship, even inside.

 

“It’s hell” Rey said, her sense reaching out through the buildings on the surface, and dipping down deeper, into the caverns below.

 

“Utter hell” she muttered, her mind suddenly overcome with the feeling of the place and the hopeless souls trapped inside. Pain and fear, suffering and anger. Such rage, it stole her breath away.

 

"Well, deserved hell, at least we can take comfort in that, though I wouldn’t want to get posted up here” Dameron murmured, as he surveyed the diagnostic.

 

“That’s strange” he said quietly, and Rey looked over his shoulder to see.

 

“The air filters are showing as low, but I changed them out before we left, they should only be 4 or 5 % degraded by now, not 79%”

 

“Should we refuse the transfer?” Rey asked quickly, seeing that there was some sort of movement within the loading dock, armed guards coming out to line the walls. Time was running out. The captain thought a moment, and then brought up another screen to scroll through a list.

 

“We have several changes on board, so that’s fine. We can change in transit if needed. It is nowhere near the brig. It’s fine.”

 

“Very good, Captain. I believe we are starting” Rey said, indicating over his shoulder to the front viewport, where now a large black metal box was being rolled down the ramp, with several guards pushing it.

 

“Right, let’s get out there and meet our new charge” Dameron said, looking far more excited than Rey was feeling.

 

This was the highest profile mission she had been on yet, and she desperately wanted to make a good impression. She had worked hard to reach where she was, despite certain things in her past.

 

In the years since the Uprising, all designations had been repressed by conditioning and medication. When governments looked into the causes of that first, bloody war, they had decided that the war between designations had been the largest causing factor. Not the lack of opportunities or shrinking middle class, not the elitism of force users, and the grinding poverty of those without the ability, but designations. Alphas had ruled supreme, and those who found their true mate, were unstoppable. To be born Alpha was to be physically strong and dominant. For those who found their true mate, it meant strength in the force that Betas could never achieve. 

For many centuries, the Alphas ruled unopposed, but, as the modern world crept in, and technological advances were made, clever, political betas become more and more influential. When the Alphas rose up, in a violent and unforeseen attack, many were lost. The designation that suffered the worst was Omega.

Omega designation had already been the rarest, and during the uprising a massive number of Omegas had been killed, raped to death in the lawless streets, hunted down and kept in captivity by Alphas who cared little for their prize, except for the value between their legs. The government fought back, and though it broke the city in two, the Alphas were subdued, and killed, or sent to life imprisonment on the Barrens, a prison moon.

In the aftermath, it became mandatory for all designations except Beta to medicate daily, and attend conditioning centres. For children, starting medication before they presented meant they would never fully become their designation, they would never even truly know what they were, so indistinguishable were they from each other. No scents, only chemicals. Betas ruled supreme, unmedicated and untainted, their connection to the force was unimpeded, unlike Alphas, who were mere shadows of their previous selves, and Omegas, who were so rare that Rey had never met one, except her mother.

 

As an orphaned child, Rey had stayed away from unmediated Alphas in the Vaults, the underbelly of the city, where wanted criminals and thieves roamed freely. Rey did not grow up like Captain Dameron, the young Beta and superstar pilot, in a comfortable family home, attending school in the city and the academy afterward. No one knew Rey’s childhood, no one could have imagined that a child of the Vaults had reached where she had. That a scavenger orphan, unregistered and left to run wild, survive as she might, could now be sitting as second in command on such an important mission, top of her class, the perfect Beta student.

 

For Rey Niima had a secret. In fact, she had two.  

 

Rey Niima was an omega.

 

In this age, it was unheard off, impossible, and yet, she was. Orphaned in that first brutal Rising, she had survived alone, from the age of 9 she had hidden in dirty subway tunnels, and slept in abandoned buildings. She had stolen food from other people’s rubbish, and sometimes, when she was desperate enough, even from their fires when they weren’t watching.

She had presented when she was 14, alone in an old car, the first strange and unwelcome feelings of omega characteristics had descended on her. She had lain prone and desperate on the backseat of the rusted vehicle, fever breaking over her skin, a pounding headache and every nerve of her body felt as though it was burning. She had stuck her fist into her mouth, hoping it was enough to muffle her cries, when the door had wrenched open, and two men had pulled her out.

Their eyes were wild, their nostrils flaring, there had been no doubt that they had known what they had found. They had dragged her into an abandoned building, and tied a stinking piece of cloth between her teeth to stop her desperate screams. The official protocol was to turn any feral omegas into the authorities, and Rey’s initial fear, that she would be conditioned and medicated was soon replaced by another. That these men would not take her anywhere. That these men would keep her.

 

She had fought back, wild scratches and kicks, bucking her entire body to make her unapproachable. She had grown up in the Vaults, she was a wild animal and she wouldn’t go down without a fight. But they were strong, unmedicated Alphas, probably wanted criminals for that crime alone, and they had scented an Omega. Nothing would stand in their way.

And then, just when she thought all hope was lost, she had felt it. Within her soul, the darkness inside her, moving suddenly, shaped by her thoughts, flowing through her. It came from the place that announced her as omega, and it was powerful. As one of the men bent over her boots, trying to rip them off, she had stopped struggling, and lain still. Her sudden stillness had baffled the men, as they looked at each other and smiled. Then they had looked at her, and their leers had turned to confusion, for she was smiling as well.

She didn’t know how she understood what to do, not sure how it was directed, or even what it was, but a flash of power surged from her, brilliant white in the dark night, changing her forever.

 

For Rey Niima’s other secret, was that she had the force, when no other omega or alpha did, not anymore, not since the Rising and the subsequent conditioning.

 

She had staggered out the building, wrapping her bundles of rags around her, and headed for the sewers, where the stench of omega could be hidden. Behind her, two smouldering corpses sent the sweet smell of cooked meat into the air, no doubt attracting scavengers who would be happy with their human feast.

 

She stayed in the sewers for a week, with only meagre supplies she had managed to steal, and tried to think of a way to survive.

It was impossible to live as she had as an omega. She would be a magnet to alphas and betas alike. She could register, and go on the medication, but there was always the chance they would find her presentation unacceptable, and send her to the Barrens. On the prison moon, populated mostly by Alphas, she would be ripped apart in hours.

In that darkness, she drifted inside herself, and examined the strange power there. It felt like a slumbering dragon inside her. She tried to summon light in the darkness and couldn’t. She tried to use it in any way, and couldn’t.

It was on the sixth night when she made her break through. She had been dozing against a wall, when she had heard voices, male and coming quickly toward her. Frozen there in the darkness, she felt a terror unlike any she had known. Before she could have hidden there, in the black shadows, but now her scent was broadcasting her designation far and wide, and they would find her, even in the dark.

She had crouched out of sight anyway, and squeezed her eyes shut. She had prayed to her mother, she had bargained with the maker, but still the voices came closer and closer. She finally imagined herself encased in a glowing white light, sealed inside, anything to distract her spiralling mind and help her stay silent and still.

The voices reached her, three men, their scents announced an alpha and two betas, untouched by suppressant medication. There were many like them in the Vaults, criminals the lot of them.

They had talked, and laughed, and as Rey listened, she’d suddenly realised, they had passed her by.

They walked right past her hiding place without paying her any notice. She sat crouched there for hours, sure it was a cruel trick and they were lying in wait for her, but she truly was alone.

The force, she had realised, had protected her. Hungry and thirsty to the point of desperation, she had ventured out into the streets, all the while, imagining that white shield around her. She walked unimpeded. No one barred her way, or even glanced at her. She was safe. She could hide her designation. She was free.

 

 

For months after her discovery, she played with the force. She explored it and expanded it, and found ways to make it work. She found she could sense salvage that was valuable, without entering dangerous, dilapidated buildings, and soon, began to build strength, eating daily, sometimes, even twice a day. She found safe places to sleep, where she could set a mental perimeter that woke her if someone came close.

 

Betas seemed unable to sense her use of the force, which puzzled Rey at first, she had thought that force users could tell when someone was accessing that special power. She started to hunt down books as well, in her scavenging, and reading as much as she could about her new power. It seemed that each designation accessed the force in a different way. Alphas and Omegas were closer, probably because their power could meld if they pair bonded, while Betas were completely different. It worked in her favour, as Rey found herself able to use the force before Beta eyes, and remain undiscovered.

 

In one of the routine busts of the Vaults, where controllers descended on the dark, writhing underworld of the city, she had been discovered as unregistered. She was 16, and when her blood sample failed to show a name and designation, they had taken her to a detention centre.

 

When she was interviewed by a record keeper, his tablet open in front of him, the solution to her problems had seemed so easy, if he could just write her a registration and back date it for her birth year. Before she had really realised what she was doing, the man with the tablet had done just that, his eyes oddly empty as he followed her silent commands. She had sat staring at him in shock, as he finishing typing on the machine, and turned an apologetic smile to her.

“Miss Niima, I can’t apologise enough for this misunderstanding. It seems the scanner that the controller who detained you with must have been malfunctioning. Everything is sorted now, and you are free to go”

 

She had walked out the detention centre with a new ID in hand – Rey Niima – Beta NFU, and into a new life. Her designation was Non Force User, for they had detected no magic about her false Beta energy, and she thought it best to leave it that way.

 Without a place to live or credits or any sort, she had faced limited options. She had enrolled in the military, being one of the few places where she would get meals and accommodation to live in.

She found she used her powers seldom in her training, except to shield her omega markers. She worked hard, and gave the education all her focus. She didn’t want to cheat, she wanted to be the best.

By 21, she was one of the youngest pilots to be given a second in command post on a ship. She had a natural talent for flying, and when her supervisors had seen it, they had put her forward for every opportunity that had come her way. She had no life outside the academy, no family to get home to. She was completely dedicated to her mission.

Stay undetected, stay alive.

 

She strode down the gangplank after Dameron and waited at the bottom to receive the prisoner. Prison transfer protocol demanded a minimum of two people aboard the vessel. The reason being that more drew attention, as well as the fact that they had strict orders in case of problems or prisoner escape. If escape looked like a possibility, the entire ship, including everyone within, were to be eradicated. Self-destruct, the most secure way of cleaning up a bad mission.

 

The guards at the bottom of the column saluted Captain Dameron, and the CO stepped forward.

“Prisoner transfer number 14326. Can’t say we aren’t glad to be rid of him” the CO said, glancing contemptuously at the black floating prison. Rey focused on his face, feeling a sudden pull to look toward the windowless box. It hovered in the air beside her, and could swear that the man inside was staring at her, even through the metal.

 

“Officer Niima, shall we?” Dameron was saying, and Rey nodded collecting herself. She was just skittish, she reassured herself. It was a high-profile mission and she was anxious for it to go well. She tried to ignore a slight tingling in her chest that felt like a warning.

 

They turned, and followed the prison aboard the ship. Inside they settled into the holding dock for the vast box, and as it sensed its charging station, it clicked into place with a loud boom, and slowly lowered to the floor with a hard thump.

 

“Well, do your checks, and I’ll get us up and running. Everything by the book Niima, let’s not tempt fate with this passenger”

 

“Of course, Captain” Rey replied wondering if she should feel insulted he had felt the need to say it.

 

Poe left the prison cells, the door shutting behind him, and Rey turned to the black prison. They had cells on the ship too, but this one was more secure. It had no windows and its own controlled environment. Using the controls outside she could check on the status of the prisoner, without ever engaging. Kylo Ren would never know the face of the woman who had transported him to his certain death, and she would never have to look in the condemned man’s eyes. Despite his fearsome reputation, she was glad of it.

 

She checked the box, all the controls were flashing green and stable. Her fingers hesitated over the camera button. It was protocol to do a visual check on the prisoner, ensure that they hadn’t been able to harm themselves inside. She wasn’t sure why she hesitated, only that the tingle in her chest was spreading, and feeling stronger and stronger. She pressed the camera at the same time she raised a hand to her chest and rubbed the ache there.

 

The camera flickered on, a hulking figure sat in the corner, showing white in the infrared camera. Inside the box was dark, of course.

“Rey?” Poe’s voice surprised her, making her finger slip off the button, but not before she had made out the large head swinging her way.

“Yes Captain?”

“We are clear to go, initiating take off” he said.

“On my way” she said, stepping back. She had to go, she thought, even as her finger inched toward the button once more. She was intrigued, she realised. Kylo Ren was the stuff of legend, and few had ever seen the real man, well, few who were not incarcerated alongside him.

Before she could stop herself, she pressed the button again, and jumped backwards in her fright. Where before a figure had lurked in the corner, in her hesitation, he had approached the camera, and as she flicked it on, had been treated to a face, with black predatory eyes, looking straight at her, separated only by a few centimetres of steel.

 

Her elbow banged behind her, and she cursed, dropping her checklist. She couldn’t talk to him, without pressing another button and she knew he couldn’t hear her, but for some reason, she had almost a certainty that he was listening to her, that he could hear her awkward clatter and her rapid breathing. She felt irrationally sure he could hear her heart beating. She glanced down at the clipboard and looked at the restraints he was wearing. Handcuffs were standard, but no force suppressor? She leafed through the file. He was an Alpha, she wasn’t surprised to find out, and a NFU, which was more surprising. He was older than her and must have presented before the government roll out of conditioning and medication was complete. These transitional generations Alphas had struggled the most with the new protocol.

 

She stared at it, that tingle inside her building as she did. It couldn’t possibly be wrong, she reassured herself. They were never wrong, the tests they ran were fool proof. Except hers, she reminded herself suddenly. There were ways to cheat the system, but there was no way Kylo Ren could have. He had been prisoner on the Barrens for a year. If he had the force, why wouldn’t he had used it in that time?

 

“Captain Niima, all hands on deck” Poe reminded her, sending alarm shooting through her again. She was just damn nervous, she told herself, as she gave one last look at the box, and turned and left, checking the door lock on the other side. It was normal when you were trapped in a floating tin can in space with a homicidal maniac. Totally normal.


	2. Chapter 2

 

It was a four day journey to drop Kylo Ren where they needed to go. That first night, as Poe took the bridge, Rey took a long shower, and then, wrapping a towel around her, wiped the steam off the mirror and stared at her reflection. The odd feeling she had developed, when Kylo Ren boarded the ship had not dissipated, but thankfully, had not grown either, and she did her best to put it out her mind. He was a man on his way to his end. Perhaps something about it didn’t sit well with her, but she didn’t care to examine it.

She looked at her face, still wet from the shower, and her hair, curling down to just brush the tops of her shoulders. She was Omega, and no one knew. She wondered what it would have been like to have lived as her designation, in another time. Her mother, what little she remembered, had been the kindest and most caring person Rey had ever met. She was a nurturer, and she had delighted in raising her only daughter, and doting on her loving husband. They had been a true pairing, and both of them had wielding the force because of it. They had never had the chance to teach Rey about the strange power that flowed through her, and anyway, even in the past, no one started to train children in the force until after they had presented, and her parents had been killed long before that. Her memories of that night were clouded and damaged.

 

Her mother, had been ripped to pieces before her, while her father, an Alpha, had tried and failed to protect her against the Alpha who had invade their home when the riots started. The Alphas caught up in the Rising had been more beast than man, snarling vicious predators, fighting against the end of a society that had outsmarted them, that no longer required their physical strength. In the end, they had ensured the end of their reign, by proving how aggressive and volatile they could really be. Being an Omega was a risk, a danger. Being an Omega was a curse.

 

Her com beeped, pulled her from her melancholy thoughts. She answered it quickly.

 

“If you’re not sleeping, can you come by the bridge?” Poe asked, and she immediately agreed. Slipping on a tank top and the bottom of her flight suit, she forwent the jacket, as it was after hours, and stuffy on the ship, and headed upstairs, tying her hair in her regulation hairstyle as she went.

 

Poe was pouring over his tablet when she arrived. She always liked the bridge at night. The soft lights, and gentle hum of the ship, and then, the stars studding the velvet sky outside.

 

“Is there something wrong, Captain?”

 

“You tell me… I could swear we had back-ups” Poe said, handing the tablet to her. It was the log of spare inventory, and Rey saw the air filter tab open. They had two spare filters. It wasn’t much.

 

“Two will get us there” she said, and Poe frowned.

 

“When I looked at it earlier, I could swear it said 6. Well, it is what it is… do you want the bad news, or the really truly terrible news?” he asked. Rey just stared at him, the feeling of warning from before burning brighter in her chest.

 

“Our filters are at 98% saturated, maker knows how” he said, rubbing a hand over his strained face.

 

“Ok, well, we can change them, we have a spare change” she reminded him.

 

“Our prisoner’s transport box filters are also at 98%” he said finally, and Rey shoulders slumped as she took in the news. She had checked them before, she could clearly remember the number. They had been at 6%. It seemed impossible that they had degraded so quickly. Nerves leapt in her stomach.

“What should we do?”

“We have little choice in the matter. To change the transport filters and not ours, we wouldn’t be left alive to bring him to his destination, and vice versa. The only solution is to take him out the box and put him in holding, and change the filters on the ship”

 

“Permission to speak freely?” Rey said, after a long pause. Poe nodded slightly.

 

“I don’t like it” Rey said, unwilling to say anything more that could betray her abilities. Dameron shook his head too.

 

“Me neither, but our hands are tied” he said tiredly. 

 

They went together to holding, and entered the room. Rey inspected one of the cells, and checked the restraints and locks inside. Everything was in working order.

 

Poe positioned himself at the front of the cage, as he began transmission to the penal colony and requested the codes for opening the box. Rey hovered at the side, only inches away from the metal. Again, she felt heat against the side of her face closest to the prisoner transport, as though the man inside was looking straight at her. For a moment she imagined putting her hand against the cool metal, and felt like if she did, he would mirror her pose, or that his hand was already there, warming the metal, trying to press against hers.

 

She took a deep breath and steadied herself. If Kylo Ren escaped, he would slaughter them, and then, continue to damage as many people as he could until he was taken into custody again. They needed to complete the mission.

 

The door to the cell finally hissed open, releasing a stream of smoke into the air.

 

“Kylo Ren, step forward. Make no sudden moves, or I will shoot you. Follow every direction I give you, or I will shoot you.” Poe’s voice was loud and full of threat, as was the guns he had pointed at the door way. Rey held her own weapon and waited for him to step out. The time seemed to stretch on forever, the anticipation of getting the prisoner safely inside a locked cell making her anxious once more. She heard the sound of heavy boots walking though the box, and the slight jangle of metal chains.

 

A head emerged from the box, bent low to clear the roof, though it was an average height. Dark hair, bound by prison regulation bands. Next, strong shoulders followed and then a muscles torso. His whole body came into view, and Rey felt that tingle of fear in her chest, growing stronger by the moment.

“Stop there” Poe ordered, his gun unwavering on the convict’s face. Kylo Ren slowly straightened up, dwarfing her captain, to an impressive height. His body was all strength and power, long legs, encased in a prison jumpsuit that struggled to contain him. His arms were long, his hands large with blunt tipped fingers, bound behind his back.

“Step toward the cell, slowly” Poe was instructing. Rey had yet to see his face. Her position was to flank him, and watch for movements Poe might not see.

He took one lumbering step forward and stopped short suddenly. Both Rey and Poe’s hands tensed on their guns.

Rey felt more than saw him turn his cheek imperceptibly to the left, toward her. It was only the slightest shadow of a turn, but she felt it, in her bones.

“I said to move toward the cell” Poe said again, but Rey hardly heard him. Her gaze was fixed on Kylo Ren’s smooth, pale cheek, his dominant nose and full lips. His eyes were downcast, but he was doing something, she realised, in horror, as she watched his nostrils flare with the tiniest moment. He was smelling her. He could smell her.

The thought made her heart skitter wildly in her chest. Poe seemed to have had enough of waiting, and stepped forward, cocking his blaster.

“Move now, or I’ll blow a hole in your chest, and save you trouble of your trial” he warned roughly. Kylo Ren waited a moment longer, and then turned his full attention back to her captain, and slowly started forward. Rey had the impression he was moving now because he was ready, he had finished whatever it had been that delayed him, not because of Dameron’s threats. The thought make her erratic heartbeat worse.

 

He reached the door to the cell, his wide frame almost too big to fit inside.

“In” Poe commanded. Kylo stepped inside.

“Go to the other side” Poe ordered, as Rey reached his side, and pointed her firearm at the open cell, and the man inside who was making it seem small suddenly.

Kylo’s eyes were fixed on her, when she summoned enough courage to look at him. His dark eyes looked solemnly out of a long, pale face. Strong features and a crooked mouth, his overly large nose. It shoulnd’t all fit, but it did. He was handsome, she realised with a sinking feeling. The type of man she would notice in a crowd, one she’d be flattered to have the attention off. Not now though. His eyes were fixed on her with an intensity she found disturbing. More worrying still was the predatory look in them, like she was prey, and he the hunter.

Maybe she was imagining it, she thought, as Poe nodded to her to close the cell door. She kept her eyes on him, as she stepped toward the door, one foot in front of the other, one step at a time, her gun held before her at all times. He straightened further as she approached, something dark and terrible moving in his eyes, as she reached the open cell. She found it hard to tear her eyes away, when she had to look down to engage the lock. The feeling of panic in her chest remained, as the cell went easily into full security, buzzers sounding and lights flashing that signalled that it was fully operational.

Both she and Poe seemed to share a single, relieved breath, before she started to back away.

 

That was the moment, when they had just let their guard down a fraction, that he made his move.

Faster than a person should be able to, Kylo Ren crossed the cell. Faster than Rey could make out. One moment he was across the other side, and the next, her head had cracked the side of the cell, and he had snatched her hand through the opening, holding it against his face, his other hand wrapped in her hair, pulled from its buns.

“Release her and step back immediately!” Poe shouted, coming forward and pointing his gun point blank at her attacker, while staying out of his reach.

Rey felt Kylo Ren’s lips move across her wrist, his nose scrap along the underside, and then, hidden from view, a wet, sliding sensation. He had – licked her. She struggled to make sense of it, while her terror beat at her, and she longed to pull away, but he was too strong, and it would break her arm. Her head pounded and burned where it had met the bars.

“Let go now! I won’t tell you again!” Poe was shouting, as Rey felt that pull to look up and meet Ren’s gaze, burning a hole into the side of her face like a dying star. Finally, the urge was too great, and she turned to see.

Up close, his eyes were hazel, a mixture of yellows and reddish browns, tiger’s eyes, though they darkened before her, as he breathed in deep lungfuls of her carefully constructed, normal Beta scent. His hold on her wrist was light, though she didn’t doubt it could turn strong and crush her bones without hesitation.  
“Who are you?” he breathed quietly, a low rumble in his deep chest, his voice so low that it sent all the blood rushing from her feet to her head. She felt dizzy. In the distance, she heard Poe cock his gun.

“Thank you, Kylo Ren, scum of the universe. Thank you for giving me a reason. I’ll be a hero for this” Captain Dameron said, and before Rey could register what was happening, she was pushed away from the bars, and stumbling into the centre of the room.

“Officer, are you alright?” Poe asked quickly, as Rey pulled her hair off her face, and cradled her touched hand against her chest. She nodded mutely, seeing that Kylo Ren had returned to the far corner of his cell, and was standing with his back to them, his hands braced on the wall in front. He made no more moves to antagonise.

“I don’t know what you think that accomplished, but it hasn’t done you any favours. Enjoy you last few days of living” Poe called out, before making for the door, taking Rey gently by the arm and leading her out. She didn’t dare look back, as darkness descended on the room, and the door locks were engaged one by one. They walked toward the bridge, as Rey reassured Poe that she wasn’t hurt. All the while, her arm burned, a perfect, long strip on the underside of her wrist and her head ached. It ached strangely, a sharp tearing feeling, and Rey was sure, if she put her hand up and felt it, she would find a patch of hair missing.

 

The second day into their misson dawned, and passed routinely enough. Poe supervised Kylo Ren’s meal deliveries, and Rey manned the bridge. In the late evening, her captain began to show his fatigue after his shift the night before.

“I’m ready to relieve you, Captain Dameron. You need to sleep” Rey said, sipping a cup of caf

“I don’t like the thought of you being alone at night, with him in the brig.”

“He is secure, the brig is safe, and I often do the night shift alone. Nothing has changed.” Rey said, trying to sound reassuring. The professional part of her rankled at Poe’s protectiveness, while the cautious woman who had survived the Vaults almost agreed.

“I’ll com you if anything happens” Poe looked at her a long moment, weighting the decision, before nodding.

“Anything at all, that’s an order” he said, and left.

 

The doors slid shut behind him, and the gentle hum of a ship sailing through quiet space filled the room. Rey snuggled back in her chair and checked their course. She did so idly, aware that there were only so many tasks that could keep her occupied for the long shift. She started to run an inflight systems diagnostic, and then settled in for a wait, looking at the stars beyond her. She felt a pull toward the brig monitor in the corner, and turned firmly away. The panel told her that all locks were engaged, and nothing was moving in the brig. Kylo Ren’s vitals were monitored on a secondary panel, and she could see his heart rate was low and even, breath slow and deep. He was sleeping. There was no need to look, she told herself firmly.

 

She ahd been aware at a young age of a curiosity toward Alphas. It was natural, seeing as she was Omega, but the Alphas that existed now, mostly men of Kylo Ren’s age and older, were a strange, sad breed. The medication interfered with all their natural processes. It seemed to subdue them, not only physically but mentally as well. The stronger the base instincts of the Alpha, the stronger the physical strength, the higher the dose. She had seen Kylo Ren’s medication dose on his chart and had been shocked by it. She had never heard of such a large dose being used on one man. She was surprised he wasn’t comatose. The implications were sobering. Without medication, he would be an Alpha of strength that the world no longer knew. A very dangerous man indeed. Perhaps that explained her curiosty. The Omega inside Rey was picking up some signals from this potent Alpha, something she had been denied for a long time, and wondered at. Rey was not of the mind to indulge her.

 

An hour later, she checked the diagnostic and green lighted the check. Her eyes drifted back to the monitor in the corner. His vitals hadn’t changed. He must still be sleeping. In an effort to shake of her morbid curiosity and lethargy, she stood up and stripped off her flight jacket. She often worked out, in the silence of a night time shift on the bridge, to keep herself awake and ready for action.

 

She jogged on the spot a little to loosen up, and then dropped to the floor to do push ups. Her body had been squirmy and anxious on this mission, and going through her exercises felt good, it calmed and centred her. She kept going until sweat dripped onto the floor, and her tank top was damp. Her arm muscles were trembling and breathing was laboured, when a whistle from the console broke her concentration.

 

Standing, and wiping her loosened hair back from her forehead, she stood and felt dizzy a moment. The world seemed to slide around her, before she grabbed onto the back of a chair, and caught her breath. The same whistle came again, just an alert, not an alarm. She looked over to where it had come from and froze.

Kylo Ren’s vitals had changed. His heart rate was elevated, rising quickly, and his breathing was hard. She stepped closer, and unable to avoid it, pressed the monitor on.

He wasn’t sleeping. He was pacing his cell, as cramped as it was. Back and forth, over and over, his hands bunched into fists in the restraints. He moved with the elegant grace of a hunting cat, long muscles tensed, head low, purposeful, leashed hunger in every line of his body. Rey lost track of how long she watched him.

Suddenly, as though her eyes on him had called him, he stopped stone still, and looked slowly up at the camera. The camera was very well hidden, but Kylo Ren looked at it directly, and she felt for a moment that he was sure she was there, that he knew it was her who was watching, and he was watching her back. The power in his gaze, even through the screen was enough to make her take a step back, her sweat drying on suddenly cold skin, when an alarm beeped from the other end of the console station, and without further warning, every light on the bridge went out.

Rey stood in the sudden darkness, shock and fear trailing down her spine. She spun toward the emergency signal that would bring Poe to the bridge and was just about to push it, when the lights came back on.

“Routine reboot completed” the ship’s android voice spoke. Routine reboots were common, usually one every few days. It must have been scheduled, it must have come up on her systems check, but Rey hadn’t noticed. The cold feeling on her skin had passed, and now, it seemed heated, almost feverish. She thought she’d better take something for oncoming flu, it might explain her feeling off the last few days, and missing such simple things. She turned to fetch her flight jacket, her eyes flickering over the brig monitor, and just like that, the breath escaped her lungs in a whoosh and her stomach heaved.

The cell was empty, the door standing open.

Kylo Ren was gone.

 

“Captain Dameron, come in. I have an emergency situation” Rey said into the com, her blaster already in her hand, as she stood with her back to the console and the door to the bridge in plain sight.

“Captain, can you hear me?” she tried again, but no amount of paging seemed to be reaching Poe. She had a sudden, terrible thought. What if Kylo Ren had already reached the sleeping quarters, and killed him. What if he was listening to her paging him now, locked in a brutal fight with one of the most notorious killers in the galaxy.

 

She reached out and pressed the emergency lock down button. A far off alarm started to screech, and orange light flashed across the dimly lit room. If for some reason there was interference with the com link, Poe would hear the alarms and know something was wrong. He would protect himself. In the meantime, she had to go toward him, she had to work around the ship until she found him and then together, they could hunt down Kylo Ren. She prayed to the maker that she would find Poe first.

 

She checked her blaster, and started for the door to the bridge, intending to seal it behind her with command codes, so he couldn’t take control of the ship, in the case that he managed to eliminate her and Poe before they could catch him.

She walked steadily toward the door, and then, did something she rarely did. She reached out with her feelings, her force, and felt through the door. She was unused to using the force in that way anymore, having left it behind with the Vaults, when she’s had to do whatever she could to survive.

Now, she stretched out, tendrils of awareness, through the heavy door, into the corridor beyond. Everything felt dead, empty, no energy of living things. She opened the door. It slid soundlessly open, and revealed a deserted corridor, dark except for the flashing orange of the emergency alarm.

She stepped out and let it whoosh shut behind her, then, half turning, unwilling to look away from the darkened corridor too long, she keyed her personal command code into the keypad, sealing the bridge.

She started down the long corridor, stopping at every room on the way, checking it for Ren, and sealing it behind her, eliminating possible hiding places as she went. She neared the brig. The living quarters were past it, and she could already see the door to the brig standing open. He wasn’t in the ship to here, and she didn’t think he was in the brig still, all signs that he had made for the living quarters first, and her worry for Poe heightened.

 

She reached the threshold of the brig, and slowly entered the room. The cell that had held Kylo Ren stood open, nothing else seemed disturbed. She had to check the entire room, she knew. She was so nervous, her blaster was slipping with sweat in her hands, and her whole body felt tense with adrenaline.

She stepped toward the cell, and in a scene from her worst nightmares, for the second time that night, all the lights on the deck, went out.

The shrill wail of the alarm stopped too, which should have been impossible, the orange warning system couldn’t be shut down except by entering a special code into its main terminal, located in the cockpit.

Fear skittered up her spine as she stood perfectly still in the middle of the room, her blaster pointed in the darkness, every cell of her body straining to see. She reached out with the force then, the only option available to her, and bit down a scream.

An energy force, wildly strong, glowing with energy and intent was standing just beside her, almost close enough to touch. Time seemed to slow down, as Rey whirled toward it, bringing her blaster with her, she registered the feeling of warm, whispered breath against her cheek, the ghost touch of burning hands on her shoulders.

 

The lights blinked back on.

“Routine reboot completed” the ship’s electronic voice announced over her com link on her wrist. Rey blinked in the sudden brightness, and became aware of two things. The emergency system was not blaring it’s warning, and she was standing in front of Kylo Ren’s locked cell, and the man himself was standing inside, only an arm’s length away from her.

 

She jumped backwards, dropping her blaster, her movements clumsy and awkward in her shock. She stared at him, at the locked door, and the green lights dotting the structure, telling her that the prisoner was secure. She slowly bent down and picked up her blaster, her whole body going hot and cold from the rush of stress and confusion. She kept Ren in her eye line the entire time, and then straightened, pointing her gun straight at him.

 

He was standing in the middle of his cell, his hands still cuffed behind his back, his posture unaffected. A mountain of a man, all quiet and peaceful repose. She couldn’t stop staring at him. His full mouth quirked in something that might have passed for a smile, if wolves were capable of it.

 

“Good evening, Officer. This is a pleasant surprise.”  His low voice was pure Alpha. It spoke of control and domination, and Rey was horrified to feel her Omega instincts pulse in its wake. His lips curled up further, his eyes narrowing on her, as if he knew. But he couldn’t know, no one could, she reminded herself. He was medicated, her Omega shouldn’t be picking anything up from him, and he shouldn’t be getting anything other than Beta from her. The whole ordeal was making her paranoid.

 

She swallowed the lump in her throat, and gestured to the far wall.

“Back up” she said, her voice surprisingly throaty. A pulse leapt in his defined neck at her tone, though he complied, stepping back slowly, until his back met the wall.

 

“Better?”

 

She didn’t answer, her mind couldn’t quite process all that had happened. He seemed to sense her confusion.

 

“Turn around, I need to check your restraints” she commanded.

 

“As you wish” he said, almost an amused tone to his voice, one that rubbed over her with annoyance, as though he was only humouring her. As though he was playing with her.

 

He turned, presenting her with the broadest back she’d ever seen, and she looked at his cuffs, and the flashing green lights on them, telling her they were active and functional.

 

“Sit” she ordered, as he ambled back around to face her, and she was once again under the intense laser beam of that black stare.

 

“Ladies first” he drawled. Rey stiffened even further, something she hadn’t thought possible. She didn’t want to get drawn into conversation with the prisoner. She couldn’t trust anything he said, anyway. She had to get back to the bridge and review the data logs.

 

She slowly started to back out the room, unwilling to put her back to Kylo Ren. Showing weakness in front of him seemed unwise, a feeling she knew was true in the marrow of her bones.

 

“Leaving so soon? I was hoping you might visit a while… it gets awfully lonely in here…” he was saying, his eyes still as amused as before, but there was something else in there, a hunger, a want, so dark and destructive that she wanted to look away, wanted to escape his disturbing presence as quickly as possible. As she reached the door and it slid open behind her, Ren suddenly moved, that same, fluid grace, to press against the front of the cell, tracking her with his eyes.

 

"And you know all about loneliness... don't you, Officer Niima?” he said. Rey was proud that her step barely faltered as she stepped out, her eyes still on his, her blaster unwavering.

 

“See you soon… Rey” he called, his eyes burning into hers, as the door slid shut behind her, and she keyed a code in, engaging the heavy locks. She collapsed against the wall alongside the door, her breathing coming quickly, her fear and panic wearing off and leaving exhaustion and shock in their wake. He had done something to her, he must have. He knew her name… he knew things about her. It was impossible. Poe had never said her name, not even her last name, in front of him, and yet, Ren had said it so confidently. He had been absolutely sure. He had been trying to shock a reaction from her, trying to goad her into speaking to him.

 

The tingle of the force in her chest, the warning she had been ignoring for days came back, stronger than ever. She cursed herself. Turning toward the crew quarters she hurried to check on Poe. She found him asleep, completely undisturbed, with a functional com link by the bed.

She made her way back to the bridge, jumping more at shadows than she ever had. As she passed the brig, she could almost feel Kylo Ren’s attention on her.

On the bridge, she pulled up a log of activity. She stared at it dumbfounded. There had been no recorded emergency alarm sounded. Her com link showed no sign that it had been used to call Poe. She brought up the video system, and spent half an hour watching herself walk around the ship with a gun in her hand, vibrating with anxiety. There were two routine reboots where the lights went off, which was strange in its own right. Kylo Ren never left his cell. He paced back and forth, until approaching the camera, and then, sat down on the floor of the cell, legs crossed in a meditative looking pose. He didn’t move until she stumbled into the room, pointing her gun at him, and recoiling when the light came back up and she saw him.

Rey sank back in her seat and stared at the footage. Something was happening to her. The force surged stronger in her chest, and she rubbed at it. It had to involve Kylo Ren, there was no other explanation, the timing was too coincidental. But he was a NFU, and a medicated Alpha who shouldn’t be able to access any of his designation’s strengths. Something dangerous was at play, and Rey could only hope that she wasn’t too late to stop it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys! You've spoiled me with all the comments so quickly. I've never had a fic be received so well, and it is really lovely. Reylo fam is the best fam))
> 
> Since you guys were so enthusiastic... here you go... enjoy! 
> 
> Also - don't know if you guys do this, but listened to Omniverse and Hourglass by SURVIVE while writing, as i captures the synth, futuristic, electronica vibe I feel like this world has xx

 

The next morning, her head pounding with exhaustion, she waited for Poe to eat breakfast and join her at the command station.

“Morning Niima, you are looking about as bad as I was feeling last night” Dameron remarked, so cheerful and rested it made Rey want to cry.

“Captain, there was a situation last night that I need to tell you about” she said immediately.

“A situation? But you never woke me, which was my direct command, Officer” Poe said, his brow furrowing as he took in her exhausted state with fresh eyes.

“I apologies, at the time, it didn’t seem pressing”

“Well, tell me what happened” He said after a moment, settling back in the Captain’s chair.

Rey haltingly went through the events of the previous night, leaving out only what Kylo Ren said to her in the brig. For some reason, she didn’t want Poe to know that he seemed to have gotten inside her head, it was too dangerous. If he was an Alpha accessing his side of the force, it was compatible with her Omega powers, and any line of questioning in that direction was a thread she didn’t want Poe picking at. Poe looked stunned at her summary of events.

“What is your conclusion?” he asked after a long moment.

“I think Kylo Ren is either receiving less of a dose of medication than he needs, or he is finding some way to circumvent it”

“You think he used the force to – trick you? To make you see things that weren’t there?” Poe asked incredulously. Rey nodded.

“Force use like that hasn’t been seen in decades. If you are correct he is a far bigger threat than we are prepared for” Poe said. It was true, After the Rising, the Alphas who could use the force so strongly were hunted down and either subdued permanently or killed. Any that now held the ability were on so much medication that they could barely feel their fingers, never mind the force.

“He should have a suppressor on” Rey said before continuing, “We have one on board”.

“And how do you propose we fit it on him, if he is as strong as you say? He could make us see things, manipulate us” Now that Rey had had time to think about, now she suspected him, she thought she might be able to tell if he was accessing the force. She had been blindsided by it before, didn’t think to check, had no reason to look. Now, she might be immune to his tricks, but she couldn’t tell Poe, without revealing her own powers. Poe himself was Beta NFU, like her official, and false categorisation.

“We can watch out for each other. Maybe it’s harder to manipulate two minds at once” she offered, not knowing if it was true or not. Poe scrubbed a hand over his face.

“Well, better than nothing. Whoever has been handling Kylo Ren, how could they make such a mistake?” he said in disbelief and Rey could only shrug. That was precisely what she wanted to know.

 

They decided that they couldn’t wait to try and get the suppressor on their convict in the brig. He was too dangerous to leave as he was. Rey strapped on extra fire power, pulled her hair back, and splashed water on her face, trying to wake herself up, as Poe tested out the suppressor. It was a thick, metal collar, about three inches side and an inch thick, that would hopefully be big enough for Kylo Ren’s bull like neck. It had three different settings, and Poe turned it to the maximum, sealing the device with a code only he could unlock.

They primed a sedative syringes, and both hide them up their sleeves, in case Kylo fought them, and they couldn’t get the collar on, there might still be a chance to tranquilise him. For a similar purpose, Rey held both a blaster and a tranq gun too.

They left for the brig, no easy banter between them this time. The stakes had been raised, and they were both feeling the pressure of possible repercussions. After all, self destruct mode was the final protocol for ships whose prisoners threated escape.

 

Rey had barely a moment to gather herself before the door to the brig slid open. Kylo Ren came to his feet as they entered, raising an eyebrow at their display of weapons.

 

"Kylo Ren, I am going to open your cell, and you will be fitted with a force suppressor. If you attempt to escape or harm either one of us during that time, you will be shot. Do you understand?” Poe ground out grimly, approaching the bars of the cell. Kylo barely spared him a glance, his gaze going to straight to Rey, his eyes sweeping over her greedily, as though in the hours they had been parted, he had missed her. He was twisted and deranged, and his soulful gaze was unwanted and unsettling.

“Don’t look at her, look at me, asshole” Poe said, and Rey glanced at him, surprised he had slipped out of formal military conduct. The pressure must be weighing on him as much as her.

“Sorry to disappoint, Captain… you’re not really my type… though I suppose I could be yours” Kylo murmured, glancing at Captain Dameron, whose ears flushed red, his mouth flattening into a straight line.

“But Officer Niima… she is exactly my type…” he said, and something suggestive about the way he said her name, suddenly made Rey feel oddly guilty and wrong. Poe risked a glance at her, confused by him knowing her name.

“Didn’t your first officer tell you about our little… encounter… last night? I got to find out lots of interesting things about this little mystery you have placed your trust in” Kylo Ren continued.

“I won’t be swayed by your lies. I am entering to fit the suppressor” Poe said finally, while Rey’s lungs felt like they had been punctured. Poe was going to have some serious questions about last night, about how Kylo Ren had known her name, there was avoiding it now. Of course, he would try and drive a wedge between them, in any way he could. She was a fool not to have expected it.

“By all means” Ren said, stepping respectfully back.

Poe opened the door, and gestured for the prisoner to turn around. He stepped closer, while Rey closed in, holding both the tranquiliser darts and her blaster. She was an expert shot with both. Poe approached Kylo’s massive body, appearing small in contrast.

He stared at Kylo for a long moment, and Rey felt her anxiety kick up a notch.

“Captain? Fit the collar” she reminded him, and watched as Poe stared into the side of Kylo Ren’s face. Her heart beating out her chest Rey suddenly felt that tingle in her chest, light and twisting, butterfly wings around her heart.

Poe was hesitating with the collar, looking up at the man waiting beside him, before seeming to change his mind, and he started to lower the collar to the floor.

Suddenly, everything clicked into place, the fluttering, the force tingle. Kylo Ren was accessing the force using his Alpha traits, and she could feel it.

“Captain! Step back – he is using illusion on you. Whatever you are seeing now, is not real” Rey shouted, her hand shaking on her gun. Poe had lowered the collar, and now, seemed confused for a moment. He sank to his knees.

“Captain, get up now” Rey shouted, as Kylo Ren chuckled, a rich, dark noise, making all the hair on her body prickle. He turned from the wall, his hands still restrained behind him, and smiled at her.

“Good girl, Rey. You’re a fast learner” he murmured, with something close to approval and pride in his voice. Rey almost gagged on it. Poe was staring up at Kylo Ren, a lost expression on his face. Suddenly, Kylo bunched his impressive shoulders, his neck straining, and wretched his hands apart, the restraints falling with a loud clang into the floor. Rey stared at him aghast. She had never seen such a display of strength, would have thought it impossible, if she hadn't just witnessed it. He didn't use the force to help either, something that must surely be calculated. He wanted her to know how strong he was. 

Collecting herself, Rey shot three tranq darts at Ren, flying through the air in lightening succession, aimed perfectly for his chest. Ren flicked his fingers, and suddenly, they were falling to the side, diving into Poe instead.

“No!!” Rey cried before she could help herself.

“Looks like the good Captain is about to take a little nap” Kylo was saying, as he stepped past Poe, who was looking at the darts sticking from him, two in the arm and one in the neck, with confusion, his features blurring with fatigue, before he started to list to the side. She raised her blaster, and Kylo tsked.

“Careful Rey, wouldn’t want to hit your superior again, would you?” he mocked, as he advanced toward the cell door. Rey backed away, her gun trembling in her hands, his words making her afraid he could deflect her blasts into Poe.

“Stop where you are – I’ll kill you” she said, ineffectively, gathering her force power inside her. She had only used the force for defence a few times, and not in years, but she still remembered how.

Kylo ignored her, stepping his huge boots over the threshold of the cell, undaunted, his eyes fixed on her with that same predatory intent as always.

“I told you to stop” she said, dropping the tranq gun and raising her hand, splaying her fingers toward him, and pushing her force strength into a burst of energy, waiting to be released at her fingertips. To her surprise, he stopped. He took in her pose, seemed to look inside her a long moment, before smiling in approval.

“So strong… that’s my girl” he murmured, that sick note of pride in his voice. Rey swallowed hard, forcing her tremors of fear from her voice, she spoke in a cold, hard tone.

“I’m not your girl, I am the women who will put you down like a rabid animal if you don’t submit to wearing a suppressor and go back inside a cell” He smiled again at her, deceptively calm, but she could feel the tingle in her chest building, the warning of him using the force, and knew she was out of time.

She let her build up power go, flying across the room, white light exploding toward him, throwing him backwards. He hit the cell bars with a loud clang, a grunt escaping his lips, as she felt an answering force fight back against her own. The last of her power ended, and he hung suspended a long moment, before dropping to the floor.

It was the same power that had roasted two men alive, the night of her presentation. It was death. She stared at his body, seeing a faint smoke rising off him.

Suddenly, he twitched, a slow movement, and then another. He curled himself over on his side, from where he had landed awkwardly, and rolled his head toward her. He was still smiling.

“Good warm up, little one… but where’s the follow up?” he growled. Rey stared at him in shock. She was depleted, exhausted, she couldn’t summon more power just now if her life depended on it, and she realised, with dread, that it did.

Kylo rose to his knees, a faint gash down his face where her power had scorched him, but nothing more.

Rey took another step toward the door, her mind already thinking ahead to where she could run, where she might hide, to weather this maniac. She should initiate self-destruct. They had failed and would die horribly. Now she had to ensure that Kylo Ren did not escape. He must have sensed the direction of her thoughts, because his handsome face twisted.

“Don’t run from me, Rey, you don’t know what that does to a man like me” he warned, a low, animalistic tone entering his voice that made her shiver. It was a growl. The beast had stopped its pretence of being a man.  
“Submit to me now, and I will be gentle” he growled. Rey felt the fire of her Omega alit in her belly, understanding his threat perfectly.

“You won’t like it, once I hunt you down and my patience is spent” he promised, now rising slowly to his feet, moving fluidly and cautiously, as though she were a skittish animal that needed herding. Rey ground her teeth together, to stop herself from snarling at his challenge.

“You’d have to catch me for that” she said simply, and before he could react, she turned, as quick as she could, and ran.

 

 

 

 

Rey sprinted down the hallway, her mind spinning ahead to try and think in a way she had never had to. Kylo Ren was an Alpha, clearly not blocked from using the force, and there was no doubt that he could. The energy he had drawn had felt like a dark, smoky haze of black lightening, stronger than anything she’s ever experienced. Not only his force ability, but none of his Alpha instincts seemed to be blocked at all, which meant he was probably tracking her scent. Rey swallowed hard at the thought. She couldn’t smell him properly, not with the blocks she had put on her own omega instincts to hide, and she was still blocking her omega signature. She couldn’t know for sure if he was aware of her designation, but given his intense interest in her, it seemed likely. He wouldn’t be so committed to terrorising her and toying with her unless there was something about her scent that spoke to his inner Alpha.

There was no way she’d be able to outrun him, out fight him. She needed to outsmart him, she thought grimly, slipping her hand into her sleeve briefly to check on her backup plan.

 

She followed the corridor around a bend, and turned into a small storage alcove hidden just past it, where a vent descended down, and she had climbed many times before. If she could just get up into it, there was no way Kylo Ren would be able to fit.

Straining for sounds behind her, she leapt for the vent opening, her hands reaching for the edges and started to pull herself up.

Large hands closed roughly around her middle and she stifled a scream as she felt a huge body come into contact with her back. She had known she wouldn’t get far, but even then, she had hoped for longer. She hadn’t heard a thing either, which was disturbing in another way. A man so huge should make noise when he moved, but he had stalked her with the silent grace of a hunting cat.

“Shhh… it’s over Rey” his voice breathed in her ear. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest, and she took a first close-up breath of Ren. He had pulled her backwards from the vent, his strong arms crossing over her torso and trapping her arms down the side of her. His head was tucked into the crook of her neck, and she heard him take a long, deep inhale of her hair. He growled, a terrifying and intriguing sound. It was unlike anything she’d ever heard before, and it touched the most primitive part of her. She let her force shield waver a touch, and Kylo growled again, this time in satisfaction. The growl and the smell were doing things to her, making her knees weak, her head swim and her eyes drift instinctively closed.

The appearance of her scent had distracted him, as he lowered her feet to the floor, and released her arms, only to rub his huge hands across the front of her body, over her stomach and chest, he slipped them between her breasts, turning attention there to cup each one, squeezing them between his fingers to the point of pain, his hips grinding into her back, while his face remained near the skin of her neck, breathing in her scent. Heat rushed through Rey at his touch, burning unbearable fire burned in her nerves, so acute, it was almost painful.

“Yield to me, little omega” Kylo Ren command in a voice so low and throaty that it sent fresh goose bumps rushing over her skin. Rey fought to find strength inside herself, to break free of his compulsion. She jerked her freed hand into her sleeve and grasped the emergency syringe.

“Never” she answered finally, when she pushed the long needle into the forearm exposed before her and injected the sedative as quickly as she could. Kylo roared in anger, as he grabbed the needle from her hand and threw it away down the corridor.

She turned as quick as a flash, as he stepped away from her, blood oozing from his arm, and raised her hand to his temple. Another trick she had learned as a child. She pushed the force into her fingertips once more, and touched them to his temple. He went to block her, but was slowed by the sedative, and she managed to make contact. She sent a silent shock into his head and saw with relief, he crumpled to the floor.

 

She stared down at him, unable to believe that she had manage to render him unconscious. She wasted precious moments like that, her heart beating like a hammer, fear lacing every breath, and then she sent her force barrier encasing scent back to normal, stronger even. As strong as she could stand it. Just then, an alarm beeped on her com link, the ships computer telling her of a situation.

“Ship docking procedure initiated, boarding protocol to follow” the computer intoned emotionlessly. Rey stared at the link in horror, her mind jumping ahead. Of course, Kylo Ren wasn’t escaping unaided. Of course, the First Order wanted their most notorious ringleader back. Now, they had reach midpoint of their journey, and were far from help, either from the penal colony or Ventrios Prime. They were coming for him. She thought for a moment, her mind skipping over the options. She should be undertaking self-destruct, her training was clear on that, but in that moment, full of fight or flight response, she couldn’t do it. She didn’t want to die, she realised, selfishly. If she could get her and Poe to an escape pod, she could still initiate self-destruct, and maybe take out whoever had come to pick Kylo Ren up as well.

She ran back toward the brig. Inside, Poe was still out cold. She picked up his arm and attempted to pull him. She put her entire weight into it, and he moved an inch.

Swearing, she looked around the brig, and spied a gurney. Grateful beyond reason, she wheeled it to her fallen captain, and started to lift him onto it, bit by bit. Several times he slithered to the floor, banging his head hard, and she muttered apologies as she relentlessly picked him up and tried again.

Finally, he was on, and she was pushing them toward the escape pods. Reaching a fork in the corridor, she had a sudden idea, and pulled her flight jacket off, rubbing it in the sweat pouring from her forehead and jogged down the corridor toward the living quarters, and tucked it behind an outflow heater there, the warm air carrying her scent into the air. On the way back, she reinforced her barriers, stronger than she had ever tried to before, she also pulled Poe’s flight jacket off, and slid it on, zipping it to her neck.

As she started to push the gurney toward the pods, she heard the far-off sound of one of the corridor doors swishing open. Kylo had already woken up, impossible, but true, apparently.

“Rey….” He called, his voice a whispering promise. He didn’t sound angry, more entertained, as though she was the most delightful treat he’d discovered. It made her even angrier.

She reached the pod bay and jammed the door the best she could. If he blasted it, it would open, but she had disabled it for now.

She opened a pod, the glass door sliding up with a loud thunk that had her gritting her teeth. She tipped up the gurney and let Poe fall into the depths of the pod, and then, shoved the heavy metal contraption away. She heard Kylo roar her name from the other side of the door. Now he sounded angry. He must have followed the scent of her jacket, she thought with satisfaction. Banging started from the door to the pod bay, and then, the sound of metal twisting.

Rey stepped into the pod beside Poe, and sank down at the controls, keeping one eye on the bay door, as it started to open, and Kylo Ren’s booted feet came into view.

Her fingers flew over the keypad, her mouth dry and throat aching, she finished programming in the code to seal the pod, just as he stepped into the room. He didn’t look any worse for wear for the sedative, and she allowed that a much larger dose would be needed to keep an Alpha of that size down properly. He prowled into the room, his eyes going to hers instantly. He raced toward her, as the glass of the pod lowered slowly, and she scrambled backwards inside the glass room, as he reached her, his hands slamming against the glass, mere seconds after it had sealed shut.

He crouched there, the separation only the glass of the pod, impenetrable, but it seemed too thin to keep him from her. He watched her, with a strange expression on his face. Anger, pure fury etched into every line, but something else as well. Disappointment perhaps. Seen up close, Rey noticed a multitude of things she had never seen before. The soft pink of his mouth, and the sweep of his long eyelashes, framing his intense eyes. Pale skin, smooth like plush velvet, dotted with beauty marks, spoiling the perfect just enough to be endearing. His eyes took in her exploration of his features greedily, staring right back. In a long, highly charged moment, they drank each other in. The officer and the criminal, the hunter and the prey. Alpha and omega. Rey crawled toward him, ignoring his intent look and urgent hand pressed on the glass and approached the controls once more. Her fingers once again moved with precision on the keypad.

“Self-destruct sequence initiated, please evacuate all necessary crew” the computer said from the panel, and Rey raised her eyes to Kylo’s, met his stare without flinching.

“Five minute countdown initiated. Self-destruct mode commenced” the computer continued.

“Ren! There you are.” A man ducked into the bay, tall, though not as tall as Kylo, and red-haired, he turned a disdainful look at Kylo Ren, crouched before the escape pod.

“Self-destruct has been initiated, it’s time to go” the red-haired man said insistently. Kylo stood, letting his hand drop away from the pod and started to pace in front of it, running a huge hand through his hair, long and wavy, it brushed the tops of his shoulders.

“I’m not leaving without her” he growled, making both Rey and his accomplice pause.

“What? You do realise we will be a speck of space dust in about 3 minutes if we don’t go now” The redhead sputtered. Rey turned back to the controls, and programmed in an eject sequence.

“Who is she anyway?” the stranger asked, turning to look at her. One moment he was turning his sneer at her, the next he was flying back to the wall, and being pinned against by an invisible force. Kylo glowered at him, his hand half raised toward him, fingers held aloft.

“ _You_ do not look at her” he snapped at him. The redhead recovered enough to snarl back.

“So, the last two years will be in vain? You’re willing to fail?” he shouted. Those words seemed to penetrate Kylo Ren’s rage, as he turned back to Rey. His dark eyes were torn.

“Come with me Rey – don’t delay the inevitable” he said, and Rey could only watch him, as the clock on the computer ran down beside her. 2 minutes remaining, 1 until her launch.

“I’m not sure… why don’t you stick around a little longer, and convince me” she said to Kylo, who smiled grimly at her.

“She is about to escape, and she’ll be the only one, if we don’t go now” the red-haired man shouted, before making for the door, abandoning Kylo Ren to his fate. He barely noticed him go, so absorbed was he with the sight of Rey, so close, and yet, out of reach.

“Very well, little omega, enjoy your freedom while it lasts. Once I catch up with you, it’ll be the last you’ll ever know. This I vow” he said it solemnly, almost like a fealty oath, a dedication of purpose pure and unending.

The last thing Rey saw was Kylo Ren standing watching her, as her escape pod dropped from the ship, falling into the dark nothingness of space below. She could see her ship, and the other one that had docked with them. She wondered if he would make it. As she watched the smaller ship docked to them suddenly unlocked, and moved away, mere moments before her ship started to explode in parts. A chain reaction that raced along the length of it, she saw the other ship shield from debris.

She turned to her control pad and initiated a ghost mode. She should be undetectable to the other ship. She sank to the floor, shudders rising through her, now the incredible adrenaline had worn off, and wrapped her shaking arms around her knees and hid her face, tears coming to her eyes.

Kylo Ren, the warlord of the First Order had escaped and she had failed to kill him. Now, all of Ventrios Prime would pay the price.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys continue to be amazing... so a wee weekend treat!
> 
> Again, warning for dark material, including blood, a little gore and death, (not main characters)

The escape pod left them just inside the city walls, near the base, pre-programmed to fit inside an approved drop zone. Rey had heard that sometimes, harsh winds and faulty programming led an escape pod or two landing outside the city walls. She didn’t know what happened to those that found themselves outside the protective environment of Ventrios Prime, and thanked the maker, she wasn’t about to find out, as she and Poe climbed from the craft and waited for pick up.

 

Their debrief was humiliating, and she was sure Poe felt the same. Without being allow to rest or even change, they were taken directly to their superiors to reveal what had happened aboard the Phantom Traveller. At the news that Kylo Ren was now unleashed, somewhere within the city, everyone fell quiet. The head beta in charge was a force user called Holdo, and she stared at Rey longer than necessary, when she asked her questions.

“Are you sure there is nothing more you can share on Kylo Ren, anything unusual, anything more than you have, something that will help us get an advantage over him” Rey shook her head uncomfortably. She could hardly confess that within hours of meeting him, he had seen under the veneer of illusion she wore day in and out, under beta noses.

“Captain Dameron mentioned that he seemed taken with you” Holdo pressed and Rey flushed. If they knew that Ren was simply responding to his biological imperative to claim an omega, especially when it was next to impossible to find one, they would hardly be interested in her except what enticement her biology to hold to draw Kylo Ren out of hiding. That aside, she had broken the law, and lied continuously over the years to hide her designation. She was also a secret force user, without conditioning or regulation. The list of crimes she had committed was damningly long.

“I was the lone female on a ship transporting a prisoner of the Barrens, where he was unlikely to have found accessible female company… it is logical that he would seek out a female to – sate his cravings with”

“Hmm” Holdo murmured, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, her gaze speculative.

“In that case, I suppose some poor soul out there is receiving his intentions, maybe even at this moment. What a mess” her supervisor said, her mouth twisting in disgust.

Rey felt a ping in her chest at the words, at the thought of that hulking monster praying on another woman, who lacked the powers to hold him off. It sat wrongly with her, and not for the obvious reasons either. She simply couldn’t picture it. Kylo Ren seemed too fanatical and focused to be distracted by something as mundane as sex, though… he had seemed plenty distracted with her. Again, Rey reminded herself, his Alpha instincts had sensed omega, and when that happened, there was nothing a rutting male wouldn’t do to gain possession of her. It was just one of the horrible traits that beta leadership had improved. With alphas under medication, women no longer needed to worry about the aggressive, sexually demanding and dominant males taking what they felt they were entitled to, without regard for consent.

That night, her apartment in the barracks seemed too small and ordinary after the events of the past few days. Rey found her mind wandering back to Kylo Ren. What was he doing, planning, in the city and how would they endure it. The questions kept her up at night, making her pace the length of her cramped rooms. Sleep was elusive, and underlying her worry was guilt. Her weakness had seen him escape. She should have initiated self-destruct while aboard instead of trying to rescue herself and Poe. Her selfishness would cause untold damage, when his plan was fully revealed. She went over every detail in her head, now seeing that which must have been his machinations. The air filters, no doubt another force mind trick, all to get Poe to take him out the prison box and put him in a cell. And then, revealing his force ability to trick her, all to break him out of the cell, just in time to meet up with his getaway ride. They had been duped and manipulated by someone who hadn’t even broken a sweat to do it.

 

* * *

 

 

Over the next week, she tried to get back into her old routine. She was put on perimeter patrol, another slight, which made her shake with anger at Kylo Ren, and ashamed of herself. A duty she hadn’t been required to do in over two years, she was too good for it, or so she had deluded herself into thinking. It seemed Holdo was determined to put a stop to that kind of thinking. While Rey and Poe had been excused from any wrong-doing, it was clearly a punishment.

She still wasn’t sleeping well, dreaming she was back aboard the ship, the orange emergency alarm signal blaring, creeping along dark hallways, knowing that something hunted her. She always woke unsettled and afraid to open her eyes, in case Kylo Ren’s fathomless stare met hers. Sometimes, she could almost smell him. In the dream, he called her name, over and over, like a caress, but instead of hurting her when he caught her, he promised to do all sorts of wicked things, things that sent Rey awake with a body flush with confused heat and need. She would splash water on her face and stare in the mirror at herself, her amber eyes eclipsed by black pupils, heavily dilated. She hadn’t ever really struggled to supress her omega traits. Using the force, it was easy enough to block her scent receptors, and ignore heat signals. She had never had a heat, never even considered sleeping with a beta, or drugged Alpha, for fear that they would find out she was an omega in the process. The refuge of her mind, and comfort in her own body was just another thing he had taken from her.

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She sat in the cockpit of her x-wing, as she glided around the edges of the wall, day in, day out, eyes on the landscape outside, looking for any breeches to the barriers, any sign of ferals living at the base, or trying to scale the momentous walls.

If Ren was out there, they wouldn’t pursue him far into the Outside. It was forbidden, even for military personnel. As though the madness of the ferals could be caught, anything involving the Outside was left to fester there, as long as it didn’t threaten the walls of Ventrios Prime, and the citizens living there.

Her scanner was clear, and for once, she embraced the mind-numbing work, letting her thoughts wander. There was something about the other alpha that had come to save Ren, something he’d said. She had been struggling to remember, the entire episode having distilled down to vivid pieces, a symptom of shock, no doubt. But she was almost sure he had mentioned that the last two years would have been wasted, if Kylo died aboard the ship. It was a strange thing to say, given Kylo had been mining Galaxium along with thousands of other convicts on the Barrens during that time.

 That night, after falling into a troubled sleep, her exhausted body no longer able to hold off her fatigue, her dreams turned directly to him, he haunted her now, even in her sleep. She was in her bunk on the Phantom Traveller, and he was there, in the room. She felt his hands, heavy and rough, running over her stomach and breasts, as he had in the hallway during his escape. His teeth bit at her ear, and hot breath scorched her neck, and she found herself arching into his touch.

She woke wet and unsatisfied, sheets soaked through with sweat, and uncomfortably damp between her legs. There was an ache inside her that longed for something, physical contact of some kind. She took a freezing cold shower, unwilling to admit to herself that Kylo Ren was the one in her dreams, that his alpha pheromones had reduced her to such a mess.

It was just biology, she reminded herself grimly, as she went to the command centre in the morning, for her posting, her hopes high that she may be moved tasks.

She was disappointed to find that her posting hadn’t changed, and lingered over the command screen desk, when she saw an alert flashing from the Barrens. She pointed it out to technician.

“Yeah, some incident has the place on lock down. Happens about once a week, but this time, there are five supply ships, just made their drop. They don’t usually drop all at once, but there have been so many asteroid storms in the last weeks, they couldn’t find the time to go. Now they are all stuck there until the lock down is over.” The man said sounded uninterested in it.

Rey frowned at the screen. Lockdowns were common, but since Kylo Ren escaped, she felt paranoid about everything.

Her line of thinking was disrupted, as she she saw Holdo enter the other end of the room, and give her a cursory glance. Feeling chastised and unsure why, she left for her assignment.

 

* * *

 

That night, she dreamt of him again. She was once again aboard the Phantom Traveller, but approaching the brig. She felt the tingle in her chest of his force presence, and knew he is inside, but there was no fear, almost as though, even asleep, she knew he couldn’t hurt her there.

Inside the room, Kylo Ren was kneeling in the middle of his cell, hands clenched into fists on his knees, and his head lowered, his hair bound up off his neck with a leather strip. He was dressed differently, it seemed her imagination had started to take liberties. He wore a black tank top, covered by a bulky, heavy jacket, made of many different dark leathers and tough fabrics. Military looking trousers lined with pockets bunched around his thick thighs as he knelt, and his black boots were covered in rubble and dust.

At her entrance, he looked slowly up at her, and his face harsh and resolved, a terrifying weight to his features.

“It is time” he said, and rocked back on his heels to stand. He slowly opened the door to the cell and stepped out. He walked toward her, and for some reason she found she couldn’t move. He stopped in front of her and gazed down at her with severity.

“Stay alive – until I find you” he murmurs, his hand reaching out, long fingers strangely gentle as they stroked her cheek, and she dreamt no more, falling into a bottomless darkness.

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When the first bombs hit Ventrios Prime, the city was unprepared. Maybe it was the hubris of the beta government, believing that their conditioning and suppression of designations would prevail, that they failed to prepare for those unwilling to live as shadows of their former selves, unwilling to let a whole designation die out.

Alarms blared through the city, as buildings in downtown shook, some fell completely, as sleeping citizens awoke to fire and death. Families separated, whole neighbourhoods shrouded in dust and ash in the pre-dawn light.

The Judicial Sector was one of the first to fall. Parliament was claimed by men in black, pouring from a stolen supply ship and planted right there, on the lawns of the Prime Minster’s residence and Parliament, the Tower. A banner was raised above that noble building.

The First Order had arrived.

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The distant sound of booms, and a wailing alarm slowly seeped through Rey’s consciousness, and she shifted on her bunk, feeling her hands completely numb and lifeless. She dragged herself up and clenched her fists, trying to force blood back into them. She looked blearily at the clock, unable to understand the time. It was very early morning, a little after 4am. Her eyes were filmy and her mouth tasted acrid. She rotated her shoulders and tried to bring feeling back, as she pulled her hair out her eyes and shuffled to the window to see what was making the noise.

She stood there, gripped the ledge, staring in confusion at the sight before her eyes.

There was smoke rising from distant rooftops in the city, in more than one place, in many. The sky was dark with swarming ships, heavy bottom supply ships sitting low over the rabble, and fighter ships buzzing around them. She saw x-wings shooting at the supply ships, and the larger, clunkier ones that had been decommissioned, shooting at them, engaged in all out battle.

Shoving on her boots, she ran for her door, and out into the hallway, where the air was tinged with smoke and dust. She ran toward the command centre.

“Rey! You’re ok? We’ve had losses in the south side barracks” Poe’s welcome voice broke through her panic, and she turned to see him running toward her, his orange flight suit streaked with black ash and blood. As she waited for him to reach her, the entire ground shook, with a nearby explosion.

“Poe?? What the hell is happening?” she demanded, as her captain took her hand and tugged her in the same direction he had been heading in.

“Holdo called all remaining pilots to the flight deck… we are needed… there’s no one else left” he said grimly, rushing toward the hanger.

Inside, there was only a fraction of the ships that usually stood there, and gathered at the end, a ragged group stood in their orange jumpsuits. Holdo had dragged a chest over, and climbed on top. Her usually pristine appearance was hellish, bedraggled and she held her arm awkwardly, a make shift sling holding it against her chest.

“Captain Dameron, it is good to see you” Holdo said with relief. Her eyes flickered to Rey, and she looked surprised for a moment.

“Officer Niima, you as well. This is our last debrief. 5 supply ships from the Barrens entered the atmosphere approximately an hour ago. In that time, we have lost contact with military points around the city, as well as the police and services. At this point, we can only assume the worst” Holdo said, in a solemn tone. Rey struggled to accept what she was hearing, how the world could have changed so dramatically while she had been sleeping and in the blink of an eye.

“They called themselves the Alphas of the Barrens.” Murmurs rose from the group, and Rey clenched her fists tightly at her side.

“They are only broadcasting one message – a demand for all military and civil personnel to lay down all weapons and surrender”

“The supply ships are our own, taken over by the convicts, they must have escaped, overrun security in the prison. There is no answer from the COs or Warden. Radio silence up there” Holdo went on. Rey knew that that meant. They were all dead,

“As far as we can estimate, there could be upwards of 20,000 men in those supply ships. Convicts sentenced to the Barrens – the worst that Ventrios Prime, and other cities around the world has ever known. They are united behind First Order colours, and their leader is Kylo Ren.” His name dispersed murmurs through the group, his legacy of fear spreading tendrils into the very people who had to try to fight him.

“He wasn’t in prison… he was recruiting. He was building the First Order an army” Rey whispered, with horror. Holdo nodded, holding Rey’s gaze.

“And he has done so, the likes of which we have never seen. What they want, we can’t know the full extent of now, but one thing is certain, they are prepared for a fight, a bloody one. We cannot leave this city to these people, we cannot abandon them. We must fight and we must win” Holdo suddenly cried, and the group rallied around her, shouting support.

Rey felt a strange sort of resignation. She was surprised, shocked and appalled, but she had also been waiting for him to make his move, and there was a relief in the fact that he had. Actions could be made, she could fight back, and there was a stark comfort in that.

 

* * *

 

 

Poe spread the city map over a table in the comm centre. They had lost power, a generator providing basic light, but not enough to power complex map holos.

 “We haven’t have contact with the Eastern base, they are closest to Judicial, which we know was hit hard. One thing, it’s the least residential, so fewer losses, but, the Tower, containing both the Prime Minster’s residence and parliament, as well as the command centre for their security is all there. Whoever holds the Tower, holds the key to the city. We have to take it back”

“What’s the plan?” Another pilot, Snap, asked his face urgent and focused.

“We don’t have the man power to take them on directly. We distract the fighters, while someone goes for the supply ship. There is one sitting almost over the Eastern Base. If we are lucky, there’ll be a lot of men on it, and it’ll be a tactical blow, losing one of their most powerful pieces. If it works, we can work on the next four, though they’ll be expecting it after that. This way gives us the best chance at taking the Tower back.” He looked up at his team, his dark eyes moving to each one.

“We have one chance to do this. We cannot fail. We will not fail” he said urgently. Before stepping back.

“To your ships and may the force be with you”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Her cockpit felt comfortingly familiar as Rey slid into her seat and buckled in. The hanger was emptying quickly, as the last squadron went to join the fight.

The city was in worse condition than she had expected, from her limited view earlier. As they flew, she could see huge craters where bombs had dropped, devastating buildings surrounding them for blocks, smoke and flames rising into the air above.

“Rapier Squardon come in, defensive formation, aim for Judicial sector”

“Copy, Black Leader” Rey replied, hearing her reply echoed by the rest of the pilots flying in formation alongside her.

They swept over the city, and Rey tried hard not to focus on the carnage below, and keep the goal in sights.

“Gold Leader, come in” Poe’s voice spoke in her ear, speaking directly to Rey. She switched frequencies to hear him alone.

“Yes, Captain.”

“If I’m hit, you have to go for the target. You have the best instincts, you can do it” Poe said. Rey stared, pride swelling with horror in her chest.

“Captain-“

“No arguments, Niima” Poe said softly, breaking protocol. She hardened her jaw and replied crisply.

“Understood, Black Leader”

They approached the Judicial sector, and Rey could see why they were focusing on it. The activity here was ten fold, with a huge supply ship sitting directly on the doorstep of the Tower, and another hovering overhead. That was their target.

They swept in low and fast, following Poe’s lead. Rey could feel when they were spotted, as multiple old class x-wings disengaged from their formations and turned toward them.

“Don’t be distracted from the goal. Ignore everything else” Poe said calmly in their ears. Rey let down her shields to the force, the part that was always supressing her full ability.

Power flooded her, and she let everything else fall away. It was like being at the eye of a raging storm, all the death and pain, all the feelings of those below her, swirling around her. She focused on Poe, as he headed toward the ship, and she moved into defensive position.

A plane shot out of nowhere behind her and sent shots flying past her right tail. She dodged them effortlessly, the force guiding her hands on the controls. She couldn’t possibly see everything, but she could feel it. She turned quickly, and blasted him back, leaving the ship tumbling out the sky as she wheeled back around, and took on two more, flying at her with speed. She could hear reports from her comrades, as they fought their way, bit by bit to their goal.

One of their team blinked off the screen, hit. And then another. Rey gripped her controls tightly, the senseless horror of the whole situation setting in.

“We’re outnumbered, they are on me” Poe said from ahead. Rey could see that despite the rest of them picking off his pursuers, he was attracting more attention than any others.

“Change of plan, I’m going to lead them away – you know the plan. Stick to it” Poe said, and before Rey knew it, Black Leader had peeled off, taking a portion of foes with it.

She refocused on the ship. The First Order defences didn’t seem as sure who was now most important to target, and Rey was able to slip her attackers fairly easily. She neared the supply ship.

A sudden influx of new opposition surged around the hull, heading for her, and she spied a ship in its midst, flanked by others, a cold feeling of dread forming in her stomach. She didn’t know why she thought it, but the second she saw it, she felt a certainty in her stomach – Kylo Ren was aboard that ship.

She abruptly changed course, slamming herself about in her seat, the change of direction wrenching at her chest, as she picked up speed again, this time heading under the ship. She came up on the other side, the huge hanger where it gaped open to the sky. She could see more decommissioned x-wings inside, as well as men, running to their stations. So many. She flew past, and headed up the side of the huge vessel.

At that moment, she felt a surge in the force. Kylo. He was coming, she realised, with something close to panic. Her hesitation was costing her the mission. She had to aim for the oscillator port, it was the only chance of doing more than superficial damage. As she prepped her canons, a short sharp burst power shot over her bow, and the front shield of her ship splintered into cobwebs. She couldn’t see a thing. It was him, she knew it was. She cried out in frustration, feeling her calm, force filled centre wobble a little. Her target computer was jumping all over the place, too many obstacles interfering with it. She couldn’t manage to aim at the external oscillator port, there was no way, she accepted angrily.

But that didn’t mean she was defeated, she thought obstinately, as she pushed away the computer, and closed her eyes. She had heard stories of how great force users of the past had been able to use the force to fight, without sight. She was just about to test that theory. There was still a place where she could hit and cause internal damage.

She changed course, and reached out with the force to avoid collisions. Travelling at such speed, it was terrifying to feel the energy of other ships coming toward her, with only moments to move aside. She let the force fill her completely. A shadow fell, and she could tell she had entered the hanger, men scattering around below her.

She flew a loop around the walls, and fired her canons in short controlled bursts. The sound of the explosions was deafening, as they gradually built. Connected to the force as she was, she could feel the people below her dying, their energy in the force pulsing before dispersing. The weight of it choked her, and a tear slid from her eye, still shut as tightly as could be. She let her hands move independently from her head, as the full impact of her actions were felt.

Her ship shot out the collapsing hanger into the war-torn air outside, and she was flying free, while the massive frame of the supply ship started to implode.

There were shouts of triumph in her ears from the rest of the squadron, as she looked out her side window, to watch the behemoth ship start to list to the side, slowly crumpling in on itself.  
“Target destroyed. Well done, Gold Leader” Poe’s voice in her air, and she could have cried to hear him, still alive. The rest of the team echoed his sentiments. Rey swallowed hard, unable to speak. Such destruction shouldn’t be congratulated.

“Back to base Squadron” Poe instructed. Rey could hardly see, relying once more on her instincts to lead her. Numb and shocked, she fell into formation toward the back.

“Watch your tail, Gold Leader” Snap said in her ear, and then, Rey felt it. She felt him. Black rage unlike anything she’d ever felt rushed over her. She looked around, seeing nothing, but she could feel him, she knew he was close, and all his will was bent on her.

Her ship rocked suddenly, an internal alarm sounding, flashing lights. She still felt too frozen to do much about it.

“Gold Leader. You’re hit. Smoke off port side” Snap spoke again. In Rey’s hands, her controls went slack, and her nose started to dip.

“Gold Leader, respond” Poe demanded.

“Confirmation of hit. Controls unresponsive. Executing emergency landing. Will rendezvous at base” Rey’s voice sounded remote, even to her. She was going down, there was nothing she could do about it, but it was a controlled descent. She could eject nearer the ground, and make her way back to base. Through the war-torn city.

“Copy, Gold Leader” Poe’s voice was regretful, but his mission was clear, and coddling one pilot did not win a war.

“May the force be with you, Rey” was the last message she received from her team, as she fell through the sky, black smoke trailing her descent. The whole way down, she could feel him, following her.

She checked her weapons, and waited to be close enough to the ground to eject.

Finally it came, and she shot up into the air. The sudden fresh air, laced with smell of smoke choked her. She gripped her parachute, as she fell rapidly toward the ground. A destruction littered street met her, as she landed hard, trying to make her body go limp, and avoid damage as much as possible.

The impact knocked the breath from her chest, and she lay dazed for a moment, starting up at the sky, dawn rising on a writhing, ship-filled sky. The street seemed deserted, which wasn’t surprising as she had landed within the Judicial sector, where most of the damage had already been done. A huge hunk of the supply ship had landed near her, and she could feel the heat of the twisted metal.

She snapped her force barriers up as quickly as she could, letting her other senses adjust.

There was a sudden terrible noise of an engine close by. A craft landing, she thought, as she turned on her side, every part of her body aching from the impact, and glanced up to see an x-wing setting down up the street.

Fear shot through her, electric in her veins. She turned onto her knees, hands scrapping on the rubble and glass of the street, and forced herself to her feet, blinking blood from her eyes, as a cut on her forehead wept, and stared at the ship, as it’s door slid up.

 

He stepped out, heavy boots and leather jacket, the very same way as he had looked in her dream, as though it had actually been him, and they had actually spoken.  He turned toward her. Their gazes connected across the distance. Standing there, he seemed so much larger than he had before for some reason, and Rey instinctively stepped back. He was too far to speak to, but he mirrored her step, she retreated, and he advanced.

He was still furious, his feelings etched into every line of his face, his dark eyes staring death at her, his hands trembling in fists at his side, as thought his physical body was not enough to contain his anger.

He was here for her, just as he had promised. Rey wiped her blood from her eyes again, feeling every pulled muscle and ache in her body, knowing that she was never going to be able to outrun him. Knowing that he was going to catch her. But she didn’t have to be taken alive. It was a cold comfort.

His eyes narrowed on hers, as though he was displeased with the direction of her thoughts.

Even knowing she wouldn’t win, even knowing this would probably end in her death, she couldn’t not run. She stepped back once more, and Kylo seemed to lose patience, starting forward. His long stride was enough to shake her from her stupor.

She whirled around, and bolted.

She was never going to be able to outrun him in the open. She turned and headed directly into a ruined building. He was fast, closing in on her with determination. Inside, she pushed herself up crumbling stairs, too afraid of being caught to be afraid of the risk she was taking. They sagged beneath her, and when she reached the top, the last step actually fell away, the entire structure cashing down loudly. She looked down from the top, and saw Kylo enter, looking up at her. She backed away from the edge, and watched as he surveyed another way to get to her. Just when she thought she’d managed to find a safe place, he turned to the wall, a zigzag of cracks and remnants of the stairs still embedded in the wall, and started to climb. She stared at him a moment, his sure movements, long arms covering ground quickly, while his strong hands held on fast to the hand holds. A stone sank in her belly. Nothing would stop him.

She sprinted to the back of the building, and looked for another exit, not seeing anything straight away, but all too aware of Ren gaining on her. Her head was aching, she had hit it hard on the ground outside, and small spots of black were dancing before her eyes. She went to the windows and looked down. Another building had collapsed nearby, sliding a section of its roof near to the bottom of these upper floor windows. Without enough time to assess if it was a good idea, or simply a short cut to death, she climbed over the broken glass, snagging her fingers on the edges of the frame, and jumped. The impact jarred her knees and rattled her teeth.

She gathered herself, ignoring the tiny cuts on her hands, the aching in her head and her quivering muscles, and rolled off the roof, wiggling through a window lower down, hoping to make it back to street level. She stood in the dark of the lower rooms of the building, her heart pounding in her ears, and listened for a sign of Ren. He was so quiet, she was sure he must be standing listening for her as well. The wall he had climbed up was empty, so he might be above, or he might have already figured out her route, and be on his way back. She started forward, eyes darting into every corner, jumping at every shadow. She wanted to use the force to find him, but was afraid he would be able to sense it.

She crept along the floor, debris crunching unavoidably under foot. The distance to the street seemed impossibly long, and she was sure he would step out the shadows at any moment and grab her.

Somehow, she gained the door, and slipped back out onto the street. Crouched behind a ruined car, she looked around uneasily. Where was he? She crept in the direction of his ship, small step by small step, stopping every few seconds to look around.

It was too good to be true, the ship, just sitting there, the door already open, just waiting to take her back to the base and relative safety. She got as close as she could and just stared at it, biting her lip.

It had to be a trap, she decided, and started to move up the street, passing the sitting ship.

She had just gained cover behind an overturned bus, when she heard the sound of slow and steady footsteps, just behind her on the road. She pulled herself in close, barely breathing as she waited.

A low, dark chuckle came, that made all the hair on her arms stand on end.

She felt at her waist, the blaster, forgotten in her mad dash away.

He had moved up a little from her, if the sound of his footsteps was anything to go by. She could see ahead that her path was blocked by flaming debris, the smell singeing the air. She couldn’t go around it.

It was time to make a stand, before he cut her off and was too close to shoot, she realised.

This was it, she felt a tremor in her belly. Her end or his. Her breathing grew more rapid, sweat dropping off her brow, mixing with the blood smearing her face. She felt almost dizzy, the burning fumes and her throbbing headache. Maybe this was karma, she thought madly, and thought of the scent of burning in the air, the people who had been incinerated above, falling in gentle, drifting ash around them.

“What are you planning… little omega – and why are you so afraid of it?” Kylo called, his voice dropping into a murmur, from afar. Maybe it should end like this, Rey thought grimly. She had just killed countless people, hundreds, maybe even thousands. A tear dripped off the end of her nose. She was a mess, and it was time to end it.

She stood suddenly, her gaze going straight to the man standing opposite her on the road, only the overturned bus between them, leaving only Rey ‘s head clear, but she could see Kylo’s shoulders and face. She raised the gun, and pointed it right at him and fired without hesitation. If he was surprised by her unflinching attack, he didn’t show it, merely throwing an arm up, holding his fingers splayed in the air. The blast raced toward him, and then simply stopped. Rey blinked at it, seeing the electric bolt frozen in the air between them.

“Hello Rey.” Kylo said, stepping toward her, taking advantage of her shock. He had stopped the blaster bolt with the force. He was beyond anything she had ever imagined.

He jumped to a crouch on the bus, and was soon sliding down beside her. She turned to run, pushing herself into an abandoned car lying on the ground near her, her panic making her desperate.

Rough hands reached out and snagged her ankle, and stopped her frantic passage. She kicked back at his hands madly, wriggling to get free. His fingers pressed hard into her flesh and she gasped as she felt pain shoot up her legs. He pulled harder, and she lost her grip on the car door she had been using for leverage, and fell to the ground, her hands grinding into the rubble and dust. He pulled her backward toward him, know kneeling on the ground, his massive thighs heavy as logs as he straddled her kicking, bucking legs.

His hands reached out for her wrists, and she fought him. Her nails scratched and gouged at him, his face, neck, his hands and fingers. He grunted above her as a particularly deep scratch landed near his eye, and cut down over his cheek at an angle. Blood dripped from it. It had to hurt. He could have hit her. His huge fist would ensure she stayed down, but, he didn't. Instead, he swore viciously, and lunged forward, his whole body weight coming to rest on her, stopping most of her movement with his sheer heaviness.

Breath left her body in a whoosh, and she felt the fight leave her body, her trembling muscles simply stopped responding to her desperate will. Her arms went slack, as Kylo pressed his face into the nape of her neck, and inhaled deeply, grunting in a deep, primal satisfaction.

“Stop now, little one. The battle is over… I’ve won” he murmured against her skin. She fought to keep her eyes open, her headache making it hard to see.

He lowered her hands to her sides and let them go, trusting his body weight to keep her immobile, and her limp hands fell on the wreckage around them.

Then she felt it, under her fingers. A sharp, jagged shard of glass. She slowly gripped it, as Kylo leaned back to look down at her, his eyes staring into hers. His fury was still there, but there were other things overlying it. Triumph, loss, worry. It was all too much for her. A tear slid unbidden from her eye, slipping down her cheek, a track through the soot and he watched it in fascination. He reached out a finger, and traced its path.

“Are you – crying for them?” he asked roughly, incredulous. Rey shook her head, unwilling to admit how her actions, as necessary as they had been, had ripped a hole open inside her chest.

“It’s war, Rey. People die” Kylo said suddenly, his mouth twisting in distaste as his own statement. She was struck by the man holding her down. He was trying to comfort her, in his deluded way. That, more than anything, horrified her.

Kylo Ren was not a person. He was a monster.

She told herself it in her head, again and again, a chant roaring through her, as she raised her hand, and sank the long, jagged glass shard into his exposed side.

He grunted, his eyes widening a moment, but never leaving hers, as his entire body jerked. Her hand grew sticky with his blood, she could feel it, hot and vital against the cold of her skin. The light grew dim around them, and she heard him whisper her name, his eyes burning into hers, before everything grew dark, and the pain in her head took over, and she knew nothing more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I know... you were probably expecting longer apart, however... no spoilers, but I will say, a game of cat and mouse doesn't really end, just because someone wins a point ;) 
> 
> Also, I am no military expert, or writing air battles/fight scenes expert - so I apologise if its terribly unrealistic!! 
> 
> Will try to update over the weekend with the next one... where we earn our rating xoxo


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: this is pretty filthy guys, I don't even know where it came from. If you're offended by dub-con/non-con, DO NOT READ

 

Rey dreamt of her x-wing going down. She fell through the sky, the image blurring with the memories of the escape pod dropping out the ship. Down and down she went. Fear licked her insides, for she knew the impact was coming, braced for it, but further and further she fell. Sweat bathed her body, a furnace burning inside, the fever making her thrash even harder. Her head ached and her body was thirsty beyond memory. She felt like she was dying.

 

When she woke, she had no idea how longer she had slept, but her mouth was dry, and her eyes were caked with sleep when she tried to open them.

She tried to raise her hands to rub it away, and felt cold steel circling her wrists. Suddenly wide awake, she forced her eyes open. A low light hummed overhead, and a sudden cramp in her stomach made her lean to the side of the narrow cot she was lying on, and attempt to vomit, though nothing came up. She wretched noisily into the air, and then fell back, her head swimming with dizziness.

She tugged at her wrists, looking down to see she really was handcuffed to the cot. A drip was attached to her arm, and she could see bacta gel glistening on her skin, on the various abrasions and bruises she had totted up while fighting Kylo Ren.

She looked around, easily recognising a ship med bay. She was the only patient, it seemed, as the other cots were all empty, the curtains pulled back between them. A heart monitor was attached to her, and the steady beats accompanied her laboured breathing, as she shifted about on the bed. Another wave of nausea passed over her, and chills broke out over her skin. She was hot and cold, feverish and sick. Her hands were shaking, she could feel her fingers trembling at her sides.  

A sudden cramp in her stomach took her breath away, and she struggled to breathe through it. Like period pain, but magnified beyond belief, she curled into a ball as best she could and waited for it to pass.

She reached out with the force, feeling for her familiar blocks and barriers, willing to lower them temporarily, when all her blood froze and her heart stopped.

Her barriers were gone. There were no blocks on her omega characteristics, such as scent pheromones. She bent double in another cramp, pain radiating through her in steady waves unrelenting. Her mind skittered over the possibilities, and she struggled to find an answer, until she felt it.

Heavy and cold, around her neck. A force suppressor. That monster had robbed her of her powers. Not only hadn’t she managed to seriously injure him, apparently, but he had been well enough to drag her here, where ever it was, and fit her with a suppressor before she woke. Rey, panted, the feeling of her clothes rough and unwanted on her skin. She writhed on the bed, her skin feeling overheated and unbearable.

She didn’t have the force. She was unblocked for the first time since her presentation. And, in a moment of startling clarity, she realised, she was going into heat.

She had been holding off heat for so long, her body must have been desperately waiting for a break in her blocking, and now, it had seized it. If she could just get the collar off, she thought with desperation, and as if her body heard her, stiffened as another flaming cramp roared through her, leaving her breathless and agonised. She was too far gone, there was no avoiding it now, even if she got the collar off. She was going into heat, and there was no way to stop it. She could hole herself up somewhere private, alone, and thrash it out. It would be awful, but not deadly. That was, if a psychopath hadn’t abducted her and tied her to a medical gurney. He had probably expected this, wanted it.

As though her thoughts had summoned him, the heavy door started to open, and Rey watched her worst nightmare walk in.

His face was cleaned up, but the scratches she’d managed to land remained. His bulky coat hide his side, so she couldn’t see how much damage the shard of glass had done.

“You’re are awake before expected” he said quietly, his voice calm, as his eyes ran over her.

“Where am I?” she asked immediately. He paused a long moment before answering.

“You’re my guest” he said, evading her question as he approached her. She strained away, and he smirked at her powerlessness. His scent hit her, a tantalising aroma that she longed to lean closer to. She shut her eyes and willed her body to stay calm.

“Your heat is faster than even I had hoped. You have been supressing your instincts for a long time, Rey. Pretending to be less than you are.” He said, running a finger down her arm, as she flinched away.

“You will not pretend anymore. I won’t allow it” he said quietly and fear spiked in her at his authoritative tone.

“What are you going to do to me?” she asked stupidly, already knowing, already dreading the fact that as her heat progressed, she would probably welcome his debasement. Her chance to die with any dignity, had slipped away.

“What nature intended. You are an unmated omega, I am an unmated alpha. We are compatible. You will submit to me” he said, and at his arrogant words, a small laugh escaped Rey. She felt as though she had woken in a nightmare, and it just wouldn’t end.

“How are we compatible? I hate you – I would kill you where you stand if I could” she said roughly.

“Your body says differently” he said carelessly, unconcerned with her threat.

“I know that you are strong Rey, I admire that strength… but you will submit to me. There is no escape, no negotiation, nothing else will suffice except your surrender”

“You’re a monster” she whispered, a tear squeezing from her eye as the hopelessness of the situation set in. He nodded, seeming fascinated by the show of emotion.

“Yes, I am” he said simply, with a tone of complete certainty. Heat rolled through her body, fever making her shiver, and he watched her every movement with fascination. He drank in the flush on her checks, the rise and rapid fall of her chest, eagerly. He stepped closer to her, his hand snaking out suddenly and gripped her chin, turning her face toward his as she attempted to flinch away. He leant close to her, his eyes tracing every detail of her, his nose brushing against her skin, and ended in her hair, where he tugged her buns free, letting her hair fall around her head. He ran his free fingers through it.

“You are exquisite” he said finally, a low throaty growl to his voice, one that seemed to reach inside Rey and burn her a little hotter, adding to the inferno already melting her from the inside out. He watched her with intensity, as she bent against her restraints, heat swirling through her.

“Interesting” he remarked, leaning in close to her again, his time, letting his hands fall to her waist. He traced circles into her hip bones, as he purposefully growled deep in his throat.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Rey practically panted as the vibration from him seemed to sing to her soul. He smirked.

“You tell me” he said, and repeated the sound, lower and more animlistic than ever. She felt an embarrassing wetness blossom between her legs. Not moist dampness, but true, sopping wet, a trickle running down her leg, exposed by the thin shorts of the medway clothes. The scent of slick entered the air, ripe and musky. Kylo closed his eyes a moment, inhaling, his predatory smile widening, as he moved to the bottom of the gurney.

“There is much that is lost about the old ways… much to remember and embrace” he murmured, as his eyes fell to her shorts, barely covering her thighs.

“Stop – don’t touch me – please” she begged at the last moment, her body screaming at her to be quiet, and accept this strong, virile alpha who had come upon her in heat, like nature’s blessing.

“Monsters aren’t merciful, Rey” he warned quietly. He reached a finger out, and slid it down the inside of her leg, smearing the slick, and then, in an obscene gesture that she was sure would be emblazoned in her memory forever, slid his finger between his lips, tasting her with relish. The sight made her burn hotter, to her shame.

“Don’t make that noise again, I can’t stand it” she panted, as she worked to calm herself down, but found it impossible without the force. She had always used the force when she meditated before, the serene power like a still pond inside her, and without it, her body felt parched and jagged, rough and uncomfortable. A knock sounded at the door, breaking both of them from their staring contest, and Kylo’s face went from unguarded and open, to impenetrable steel in a flash, his strong shoulders rising up around his shoulders, like hackles rising on a cat.

“I am not to be disturbed here” he ground out quietly, as the door opened a fraction of an inch. The answer was lost to Rey, as she writhed on the table. He watched her as he listened to his follower, a shadow, whispering through the crack.

“I will attend to it shortly. Make sure our quarters are ready, and only betas on guard at this door. I will return for the transfer” he murmured. The door closed, and Kylo was once more at her side. He crouched down beside her, his monstrous upper body dwarfing her as she lay prostrate before him.

“I regret that I must leave you – I will return, before your heat has truly come. I will move you to more agreeable accommodation, where you might relax and nest, as is natural for an omega in heat” Rey laughed in his face at his words. He barely flinched, but his jaw tightened, showing his displeasure with her reaction.

“Agreeable accommodation? Nest? You’re insane… you really are completely deluded” she spat, proud of how strong her voice was, though her body was hungry to taste his lips, so close to hers. He stared at her a long moment, before rising, his hands clenched tightly into fists, he made for the door.

“Once your heat finds you alone, Rey… we shall see who is insane then. Maybe, you’ll appreciate my company a little more” he through a smirk over his shoulder, and Rey knew he was right, the estrous would drive her to seek him out, to beg him and plead for him to take her. The knowledge made her more angry and frustrated than she had ever been.

“Please-“ Rey gasped out, as his hand hit the doorknob. He stilled instantly, and turned back to look at her.

“Tie me up, lock me in… but please… take the collar off” she breathed, even though she knew it was futile. 

“Please… I can’t stand it without it… I am not – myself” she ground out, trying desperately to make this man understand, to ask him for some kind of mercy, or understanding from a fellow force user. His mouth firmed in a tight line, his brow creased.

“But this is you Rey, this is part of you, and you have tried to deny it for too long. You should make peace with it, it’s not weakness” he said with finality, and turned away, opening the door, tossing one last low murmur after his retreating back.

“See you soon, little one”

 

Time slid from minutes to hours, and she lost all track after a while. The heat had blossomed inside her, hunger unlike anything she’d ever known, not for food, but for an alpha. She found herself thinking of Kylo Ren’s body, her restrained hands trying to touch her own breasts, as she pictured his strong arms, his sheer strength and size, his command and authority. She wanted him to sweep in and push her down, cover her mouth with his, and push inside her, muffle her cries and have his way with her. It was the only way her mind would allow her to fantasise. And she couldn’t stop thinking it. The table was soaked beneath her, from her sweat and slick, and her paper-thin clothes were wet through. Her eyes were glazed and glassy, the light above hurt them, and she kept them closed.

She hated Ren with a vehnamence she had barely imagined she could feel, she loathed him, despised him, but how she wanted him.

Her mind was buzzing in a way it never had before. She kept thinking about her parents, her old home, the Vaults and her journey through being a fake beta. She thought of the intense loneliness she had felt since their deaths, when she had realised she was truly alone in a terrifying world. The solitary of being a girl with a secret, one that threatened her life. The isolation of being able to use the force, and having to hide it. A liar, a murderer… the thoughts ran around her head, punctuated with flashes of pain and desire, so closely linked she couldn’t distinguish them.

The metal chaffed her skin, she wanted soft and warm things around her, the lights hurt her eyes, she wanted softly lit places, or darkness. She pictured a dim, dry cave with a fire roaring inside, the floor was strewn with blankets and the entrance was well hidden and safe. The picture eased her. She was being broken down to her most basic and primal pieces, and her own body was the culprit. Every pain, every desire, every tortuous image of Kylo Ren her mind conjured up, it was all her own doing. He might have restricted her access to the force, but it was her body that was taking its revenge on her, for denying her instincts for so long. Her rage turned toward despair, as she suddenly started to worry that he would not return. She had been a disappointing omega and her alpha had rejected her. He would leave her to suffer her heat alone, in terrible pain and loneliness, such wretched loneliness, she thought she could die of it there, on that table, melting away into a pile of dust and salt, a bitter patina of a disappointing life, the only residue that remained. She was able to recognise those terrible thoughts at first, as hateful and biology driven, with little rational or logic, but as time slipped by, she found herself believing them more and more, knowing, in a part of her soul that they were true.

When the external world had completely faded away, and she was trapped inside her raging body, dying a slow death of unrequited longing and rejection, she heard the door open, and the smell she had been longing for and dreading with equal measure invaded her senses.

“Sir-“ someone said, and was silenced immediately, a coughing, spluttering noise erupting from a crushed windpipe, as Rey felt herself being swept up by strong arms. Ren carried her from the room of her anguish. She was too far gone to make sense of where she had been, or where he was taking her. She felt that there were no people in the corridor he carried her along, but she didn’t have the force, so could only guess. A tear slid down her cheek as she felt the hollow empty place inside her that the sweet power usually resided and felt it empty.

Kylo hugged her tighter to his chest, a moment.

“You came back” she murmured, looking up at him through glassy eyes. The strong underside of his jaw, that pale velvet skin, marked with beauty spots, like constellations in the night sky. He glanced down at her, a flash of hazel eyes, bright with gold.

“I will always come back for you, little omega” he said, his voice soothing her, relieving her.

“I thought you were going to leave me there – to die” she confessed.

“It took longer than I had anticipated, securing the city… finding a safe place” he said quietly, but his words hardly made sense to Rey any more.

“The battle?” she managed to ask, a nagging feeling at the far reaches of her mind reminding her that there was something terribly important happening, some reason why the strong and capable alpha holding her was not all he seemed.

“It is over. Ventrios Prime is mine, Rey. And so are you. You will not deny it again” he said, with finality.

More tears ran down her face, coming from the small part of her that had remained Rey.

“I hate you” she whispered into his chest, pressing her face against his throat, and breathing deeply, inhaling the spicy scent that was pure alpha.

“I know, but it doesn’t change anything” he murmured back, and then, they were entering a warm room, with thick drapes, velvet red and gold, pulled tightly shut. There was a huge bed, dark wood, with high posts surrounding it, and a fire place, a roaring blaze in its hearth. Ren put her down on the bed, and went to the door. He shut it, bolted it in several places, and then, put a place cross bar down. Next, he moved to a key pad inside, and held his hand over, locking it electronically as well.

Rey knelt on her knees on the bed, and pulled her t-shirt over her head, unable to bear the sensation of the rough material on her skin any longer. She had accepted that she needed him to see her through this heat. There was no avoiding it now, if she was lucky, he would let her go without killing her after, or maybe she would find a way to kill him, when his guard was down.

“Don’t count on it, little one” he growled, the sound bringing forth her slick, in embarrassing amounts. She was past shame though, past all reason or dignity.

“Get out my head” she demanded in return, her eyes flashing angrily at him, as he turned and looked at her, his dark eyes burning with desire as his gaze swept over her bare chest, yet he didn’t move toward her.

“I’m about to be in every part of you Rey, just like you want me to be” he said, and she tried to shut out his hateful goading.

She wiggled her hips out the shorts, her thighs wet and trembling for his touch. His eyes swept downwards, he swallowed, his throat bobbing, but still remained unmoved, fully clothed, watching her.

“Well?? Are you just going to stand there??” she cried, her desperation clear in her voice. He smiled again, tilting his head to the side.

“If you want something, feel free to ask” he said, his voice only above a murmur. Rey shook her head stubbornly.

“Those who don’t ask, don’t get…” he mocked. She stared at him, wishing looks could kill for a long moment, and then flopped back on the bed, wriggling out her underwear. She closed her eyes, and raised her hands to her breasts, cupping the modest mounds, tugging on her nipples. Her breath was rising and falling rapidly, her heart beating with fury.

She slowly trailed her fingers down her stomach, and between her legs.

She heard the sound of footsteps approaching the bed, and then, he was there, watching her with such intensity she thought her skin might blister off where his scorching gaze travelled. She gently parted her folds with trembling fingers, unable to wait any longer. Even just the scent of him, being so close to her was sending her into a delirium.

“You aren’t going to invite me, are you? Even now, in estrous… such strength, such defiance” he murmured, watching her fingers as she explored ineptly. She touched her clit, a swollen pearl of nerves at the top of her slit, and let out a pained breath at the feeling, a moan.

Hard fingers clamped around her hand, stopping all movement.

“Your pleasure belongs to me… invite or not, a monster takes, sweetheart” he said softly, Rey thought she heard almost an apology in his words for one moment, through her heat addled fog.

“Then take” she challenged back to him, struggling onto her elbows to stare up at him. His full lips tilted into his customary smirk, as his hands went to the lapels of his heavy coat, shrugging it off to slump to the floor. His t-shirt joined it, and Rey sucked in a breath at the sight of his muscled torso. Next, his boots came off, and then, he was lowering his trousers. She couldn’t help but look, curiosity, desire and sheer terror mingling, until the heat overpowered everything else. His dick was hard, straining up his abdomen, aggressively flushed and terrifying. Instead, she raised her eyes to the bandage on his side, stained lightly pink. Her stab wound. The smallest smile curled her lips.

“Admiring your handiwork?” he grunted, as he lowered himself to his knees by the edge of the bed, and wrapped his hands around her knees. She nodded.

“It suits you, you should let me give you some more” she suggested, and just when she thought he might roar at her to be quiet, to stop throwing his weakness and her triumph in his face, he smiled, a feral, possessive thing.

“I will wear your marks with pride, omega, for I’ve earned them” he said, his voice a low rasp, and then he pulled her roughly to the edge, so her legs were dangling off the mattress, and her knees bracketing his head.

He lowered his face to her centre, and licked, a long, agonising sensation, his hard tongue slipping inside her, lapping up her slick, sucking on her clit. She bowed off the bed at the all out attack on her senses. Her knees clamped together around his head, and with hands of steel, he parted them, and pushed them back and up, so she was terribly exposued to his perusal.

He continued to lick her, suckle at the slick at came out, bite her inner thighs until she was a writhing mess. He slid a long, thick finger inside, swearing when he felt the tightness, pumping it in and out a few times, before adding a second one. Rey melted under his touch, but she still craved more. She needed him inside her, she needed his knot. Even without ever having had a heat before, she felt instinctively that she needed that overly large and wide dick inside her, pulsing its spend into her womb, that only that would calm her raging hormones.

“Do you know what to do or not??” she finally cried, as he brought her to the peak of some great feeling, only to withdraw his fingers at the last minute.

“We are demanding, aren’t we, little one” he chuckled, clearly pleased she was reduced to a begging mess, but finally moved onto the bed, settling himself between her parted thighs, his cock nudging at her sopping wet entrance. Her slick made it easy to ease in, and he started to fit himself inside her. She tried to move around to make the process go faster, his once again, found herself pinned immobile by his superior strength.

“Don’t rush, it’ll hurt less” he grunted, as he finally reached that thin barrier that announced just how strongly she had been denying her body. He let out a long, shuddering breath there, and leaned backwards to look down at her. Her eyes were closed, as she tried to calm her reeling mind. She was in heat, and about to be mounted by Kylo Ren, an escaped convict who had just declared war on her city in the name of the First Order. It was a nightmare she had never dreamed badly enough to have, and yet, it was her reality.

“Rey – open your eyes” Kylo demanded above her, and she squeezed them shut even more, knowing he would make her somehow, and hoping to delay it. Maybe she could imagine she was with a caring beta, or medicated alpha who loved and cared for her, she wished valiantly. She felt Kylo’s fingers weaving into her hair, and moments later, he had tilted her head back to the point of pain, his fingers fisted hard in her hair, and her neck was exposed.

“Open your eyes, Rey – now.” He growled, the sound making her heat addled body sing. She let her eyes open, knowing resistance, at this time, against him was futile.

“You will not imagine me away, little one. I am the alpha who is fucking you. I am your first, and I’ll be your last. Do not mistake me for anyone other than your master. Do not forget I am inside your head, and my dick is inside your body. I know your every thought, I know your every feeling. Do not think of another man. It will not end well for you” he promised, and a shiver of fear shot through her at his words, even while her body was rejoicing to finally be joined with an alpha.

Holding her gaze with his hypnotic eyes, he started to push forward.

“Tell me you understand me” he commanded, and she fought the urge to close her eyes against the pain, the stretch of him inside her.

“Tell me” he said again.

“I understand” Rey cried desperately, and he savagely pushed forward, sinking into her until he could advance no further. His hips sat flush to hers, and brutal pain spread through her where he had breached, even while the shrieking heat instinct in her head dulled to a muffled roar in satisfaction. He let out a long sigh, as he held himself still there, before starting to move.

He started slowly, restraining himself with a great force of will that she was surprised he had, or she would have been, if her estrous hadn’t sent her out of her mind. She floated in euphoria, a creature of pure touch and sensation, without words or thoughts. All she felt was his hard body against hers, his large hands, moving her deftly, handling her expertly, his mouth, softer than it should be, pressing kisses along her forehead and cheeks, up her neck and against her lips, again and again, times without measure, and all the while, his hips pined her, his cock relentlessly sliding in and out, rubbing all the pain inside her away and replacing it with pure pleasure. He sat up onto his knees, and pulled her with him, holding her in his lap, her upper body completely supported by his hands, spanning the small of her back. All the while, he urged to her keep her eyes open and on him, and after a while, she realised she couldn’t look away. To break at that golden brown stare was to lose an important tether to the world, and so, she clung on. She was lost adrift a sea of desire, and only he anchored her to land.

When she came, it was so hard, stars burst in her eyes, and she felt dizzy. Her body clamped down hard on Kylo’s, milking him, and he came after her with an almighty roar, the vibration of which shook through Reys chest like an earthquake, and he pulled her into the cage of his arms, holding her against his chest, his face buried in her neck and hair. His knot swelled rapidly, locking them together, and something Rey had always found disgusting in research proved to be indescribable in reality. Every pulse his cock made send more spasms through her, and when he leaned away, and set his rough, wide finger pads against her clit, circling her, drawing her out, rocking his swollen knot and still hard cock inside her, she came again, two more times, before the knot subsided. Each orgasm sated the roaring heat instinct, and made her more lucid for precious moments, in which panic would overtake her, and then, the crush of her estrous would press back down, and she was once again uncaring of anything except satisfying her hunger.

When he pulled free of her, a huge gush of his come ran down her legs, and instead of revulsion, which she knew she should feel, she welcomed its sticky warmth, the musky scent, his and hers mixed. It marked them both, evidence of their mating, and in her primal omega brain, she enjoyed the sight of it. He frowned at the sight of it escaping, and ran his fingers through it, pushing it back into her, his finger sliding into her with an obscene squelch. The rest he couldn’t manage to push back inside, he rolled his fingers in, and fed to her, and in her shameless heat, she licked his fingers clean.

He pulled her against his chest, tucking her into the side of his body, their pheromones strong around them, on ruined bedclothes, and ran sticky fingers through her hair. She drifted into an exhausted sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

When she woke, the heat once again raging inside her, she barely had to reach for Kylo to find him already rolling her over on her front, his long arm snaking down her to flick her clit, as he pushed into her from behind, his huge body held over her carefully, so as not to crush her petite frame. He pounded into her from that position, and she moaned into the sheets, guttural and low, thrusting back against him needily. He fucked her hard like that, his fingers making her come and his cock hammering into her through orgasm after orgasm, until she was too weak to lift her head, until she once again floated somewhere outside herself.

When he came, holding her face tilted backwards, cheek against his, so he could growl in her ear, his knot tied them together, and Rey came again at the feeling of his hot spend spraying out inside her, marking her at his. He rolled them to the side, and cradled her in his arms, his hand slipping between her legs to make her come again, and she moaned and sobbed her way through another release.

 

* * *

 

 

When she woke the next time, she reached for Kylo, to find him gone. Sitting up abruptly, feeling as though she was moving through deep water, she saw him standing at the table, naked, and glorious. She must have made a sound, as he turned and saw her, approaching quickly.

“Eat, little one” was all he said, thrusting a plate of grapes and cheese at her, pushing the soft juicy globes between her lips when she turned her head away. She was only hungry for him, and became angry when he persisted to try and feed her. Eventually, he grabbed her by the nape of her neck, and forced the food between her lips.

“You will eat this, Rey, all of it. And then, and only then, will I fuck you into that mattress and make you scream.” He had grunted at her, watching with satisfaction as she quickly and messily ate the food.

“Now drink” he commanded, bringing a bottle of water to her lips, and she gulped it down, droplets escaping her lips, and streaking down her bare breasts and stomach. He leaned forward and latched his mouth around one of her nipples, rolling and teasing the tender bud between his teeth until she was shaking, her slick soaking the chair beneath her.

“Good girl” he said, releasing her breast with a pop, and jerked his head toward the fur rug before the fire.

“Get on all fours” he growled, stepping back from the table and releasing her. She slid to her knees. There was no part of Rey that remained, the Rey who would feel shame in such an order, who would rebel against his natural authority. She crawled toward the rug, and he followed her, and she could practically feel his attention on her, branded into her skin. She stopped in the centre, and he was on her, his heavy body covering hers, his fingers slipping between her legs, spreading her for his tongue, for him to taste her slick and the product of their mating.

He fucked her fast on her knees, like the animals they were, but changed positions before knotting, rolling himself onto his back, and sitting her atop him. It was a strangely submissive position for an alpha, but he came just as hard as usual, and knotted them together. She swayed on top of him, and his hands came up to play with her breasts, circle her throat, push his thumb between her lips.

He picked up her hands, the one with the bandage on, and pressed kisses along it. He pressed her palm to his cheek.

“Touch me, Rey” he implored, but she didn’t dare. Heat wasn’t about tenderness or affection. It was about satisfying a primitive urge, and Rey would not allow herself to do more than that. She could take no comfort from the monster who had captured her and she would give him none in return to ease his black soul. She didn’t know what would happen to her, once her heat passed. Maybe he would just kill her, for destroying his men, or maybe he would lock her up and force heat after heat on her, use her for his own urges, until she lost the will to go on. Maybe he would send her onto his men, after he was finished with her. He was after all, a self-proclaimed monster. Whatever the future held, Rey promised herself she would escape him, or die trying.

He was looking at her as he rocked his knot inside her, having given up trying to get her to touch him in return. She closed her eyes, and sank forward, burying her back in his shoulder, inhaling the scent of him, soon to be forbidden, once her heat broke, as his hands came up to thread through her hair.

 

* * *

 

 

Three days into it, the heat instinct started to wane. She first realised it, when he pulled her onto his lap, positioning her to sink onto him, and less slick greeted his entry. He growled, low in his throat, and the slick came, but it had to be called. Her heat was passing. That fact seemed to send Kylo into a frenzied mission, he called on reserves of strength Rey could only imagine, to fuck her longer and harder, staring at her all the while, making her look at him back, drawing out each knot with orgasm after orgasm, until she would fall into a deadened sleep, and awake to find him already hard and touching her.

She had lost the boundary of where she ended and he began. His responses had started to feel natural to her, as though she were in his head, as he was hers. She could practically feel him thinking, planning, strategizing as he touched her. He wanted to break her with pleasure, bend her to his will, make her his slave. But she was stronger than he knew, and she wouldn’t falter easily. Once the heat signals started to wean, clear, cognisant thought slowly filtered in.

On the fourth day, Rey woke to find herself in control once more. Kylo still slept, his hard face softened in sleep, almost innocent looking while still knotted in her. A surge of hatred and anger flowed through her at the sight of him.

Their bodies stunk of sex and fluids, she could feel her skin crusting as she moved, webs of dried come cracking open as she lifted an arm, from where he had spent time massaging his spend into her skin, scenting her. She felt like she might be sick, but the feeling passed as she realised she had an opportunity.

She was trapped in his arms, but he was asleep, and if she could find a way to move, without waking him up, she had the first advantage she’d ever had over him.

She strained her neck around, looking for something she could remember from their previous meal. He was careful not to keep knives or forks around her, nothing that could easily stab a person, but, he had given her water in a metal goblet. Some ugly thing, she had wondered where he had found it at the time, the glasses weren’t in circulation anymore. She hadn’t seen one since her Vaults days, but she remembered them. They had been a valuable tool in that unground world, for protection, because the base was a separate piece, and the fitting loose, some could be pried off, leaving you with a metal spike. For a criminal, Kylo Ren seemed to have had a sheltered childhood to not know something so basic, Rey thought, as she spied the glass, sitting not three feet away, on the very edge of the table.

She would have to free an arm to get it, she realised, and focused on wiggling it out from under Kylo’s heavy arm. He had clutched her to him in his sleep, and her arms were trapped between her chest and his. Slowly, so slowly her muscles started to tremble almost immediately, she began to ease her hand out. She watched his face raptly, listening for any change in breathing, any hitch or twitch that might mean he had woken.

She finally worked her arm free, holding it over them both in the air, soundlessly, shaking pins and needles from her fingers.

As quickly as she dared, she raised her hand over her head and started to hunt for the glass. It wasn’t where she’d thought, and when her fingers brushed it, she pushed it closer to the edge accidently, instead of gripping it. She froze as the tiny noise seemed to boom overhead. Kylo shifted a little, a frown settling on his forehead, as he pulled her closer to him, and took a deep inhale of her scent, muttering her name. She was frozen there, her arm wavering over head, her attention completely focused on the man beneath her.

After a moment, following some instinct she didn’t care to examine, she dropped her hand to his face, and cupped his cheek, smoothing over the frowning forehead and creased mouth. Instantly the tension eased from his face, relaxing once more into peaceful slumber at her touch.

She let out a silent prayer of thanks, and started to raise her hand again, this time closing over the glass, and picking it up. It was tricky to remove the bottom without two hands, but she managed to clamp the base in her teeth, so she could rotate the top. She worked slowly, trying not to move at all, holding her breath all the while.

Her attention was so focused on her task, she stopped monitoring Kylo’s breathing, or checking on him.

When she finally prized it off, and held aloft the metal stem, with the chalice clasped in her hand, she found her heart was beating awfully wildly. She was afraid, she realised. Terrified of being caught, which was natural, but there was another fear there too. Fear of killing someone in cold blood. He lay sleeping, trustfully, in her arms. It was one thing to blow a faceless ship full of escaped criminals out the sky, it was another to slit the throat of the man holding you tenderly, who had just spent the last three days fulfilling your every debased and wicked desire. It was just the mechanics of it, Rey reminded herself. Morally, she didn’t care if Kylo Ren died, she would be relieved even. But being the one to do it, in the quiet, warm dark of this soft and comfortable room, feeling his hot blood run down her arm, and his dark eyes jerk awake, knowing what she had done, as his life slowly seeped from him. She just wasn’t sure if she could take it, not after the last few days, not after her mission success, and the crippling feeling she still got when she thought of it.

He woke to find her staring at him, the metal stem still gripped tightly in her fist.

“I see your heat has broken… that is regrettable” he said. She swallowed, knowing her chance had gone and she had allowed it with her hesitation.

“Are you going to kill me, Rey? If I said right now, if you tried, I would let you?” his voice strange, Rey would think it bitter and disappointed if she didn’t already know what a manipulative psychopath he was.

He knocked the stem from her hand, as he wrestled her around onto her back, and loomed over her, holding her hands, already shaped into claws at the side of her head, pining her helplessly to the floor.  

“What happens to me now?” she asked miserably, when her arms were too tired of fighting against him.

“You adjust to your new situation” he said finally, a muscle ticking his jaw, his face otherwise was completely impassive.

“Are you going to kill me?” she asked impulsively.

“Do you want me to?” he asked back instantly, and she answered without thought.

“I don’t know, it depends what the alternative is” she admitted. If he was rattled by that, he didn’t show it.

“Will you take the collar off?” she asked futilely. He sighed.

“You know I won’t”

“Will you – force me to have another heat?”

“Heat is natural, Rey. You should have another in a few months”

“I mean, before then, a chemically induced one” she asked, sacred to ask what she really wanted to know. Would he share her with others, make her a heat slave for his followers. She could survive the debasement and loss of her dignity in private, with one witness. But the thought of being passed around countless others, was too much to bare.

“A chemically induced heat is not natural, and therefore a useless strain on the body. No, we will follow the proper rhythm of nature, when it comes to our mating” he said, seeming perplexed at her questions.

“So, you plan to mate with me again? Keep me locked in a prison, without human contact, or fresh air or the force?” she asked, and he went terrifyingly still. His dark eyes attempted to see into her soul, and a chilly demeanour descended over him.

“I do not like these questions, little one” he said quietly, in a voice full of threat.

“Well, you better get used to them. If you think I’ll go gently, you’re wrong” she swore, defiance ringing in every word.

“I’ll fight you every step, and you’d better not turn your back on me, because I’ll end you if I have the chance”

“Like you did just now, while I was sleeping… it would have been so easy” he cut in musingly.

“You could have killed me before I’d woken up, silently, without alerting anyone. Why didn’t you, Rey?” he asked her, his eyes searching hers for an answer. She evaded that probing gaze.

“If you think it’s because I feel any emotion toward you except for abject disgust and hatred, you’re wrong” she said.

“I’m under no illusions about how you feel about me. But, you have shown compassion, you have shown hesitation and guilt, pity… mercy. You cannot think I’ll ignore these weaknesses, without using them to my advantage.”

“How?” she asked immediately, her mind racing to how he could win more of an advantage over her.

“That remains to be seen. The fact is… you’ve shown me inside, Rey. And now I know you. You have a heart unbefitting a woman of Ventrios Prime. You have the heart of a heroine.” He said simply, and she frowned, trying to understand if he was insulting or complimenting her.

“I don’t understand” she said finally, and he sighed indulgently.

“Let me explain it in plainer terms. You are now my possession, Rey.” He said quietly, and held her tighter, anticipating the struggle his words brought out in her.

“I own your city, I’ve killed your government and freed your people, I’ve wiped out your pathetic military and filled the city with my loyal followers and I own you. You are mine. This indulgence of questioning my authority is temporary, as I understand you have been through much change, and that can be unsettling” he continued, as though she was being given a new position at work, or getting a new base supervisor.

“When the dust settles, I expect your attitude to improve, or steps will be taken to rectify it” he murmured silkily in her ear.

“A person is not a possession. You cannot own me.” She managed to stutter out.

“I already do” he insisted, growing angry with her refusal to accept his words. Her head shook back and forward, her chest rising and falling as panic swirled her downwards in its grip. She could hardly breath, the world felt like it was slipping away, and then, in all that noise, Kylo Ren made a move that froze her to her marrow. He hauled her to the side and put her face toward the ground, exposing the back of her neck and shoulder, and placed his teeth over her mating gland, and lightly bite down. Not enough to break the skin, but a warning, nonetheless.

She stilled immediately, filled with her horror that he could bite her and bond them intimately forever. Claiming marks were not to be taken lightly. It wasn’t marriage, it couldn’t be undone. The bond paired two souls together so completely, that if one should die, the other would soon follow. She would feel him, his thoughts and wishes, inside her. He would be embedded so deep, she’d never be rid of him, even if she escaped him.

“Don’t, don’t… please” she whispered, tears squeezing from the corners of her eyes, closed in terror. His teeth gently slackened, and he leaned slightly up, his hips still pinning hers to the bed, and his hands still holding her slender wrists at her head. She dared to open her eyes and saw an unfathomable stare looking down at her.

“Then don’t test me, Rey. I’m not a man, remember? I am a monster. Unfortunately for you, I am the monster who owns you. Make your peace with it… it doesn’t have to be like this” he said starkly and let her go. She could feel bruises already blossoming on her wrists, her whole body more tired than she had ever known.

“Yes it does, it has to be exactly like this” she muttered, feeling defeated.

Kylo Ren stood, his own body a testament to her heat, covered in scratches and love bites. She wondered if she should feel shame in the evidence of her estrous-induced fervour for him, but couldn’t manage it. It was just biology, and she was more than that.

“I will return to check on you later. Rest, eat…” he said, a strange awkwardness falling, now her heat had passed. Two strangers who knew the most private intimate details about each other’s bodies, and nothing else. He pulled on his clothes from earlier, unused for four days, and went to the door.

“Do not attempt to leave this room” he instructed. She bit down the urge to remind him that she would hardly help him in keeping her prisoner.

“There are unmedicated alphas all over this residence. You wouldn’t get far, and I would not be close enough to intervene.” He said, as though he could read her every thought. He hesitated, as though he wished to say more, but then seemed to think better of it, turning away, and opening the door.

He left, without a backwards glance, and Rey followed after him, approaching the door, hearing the sound of it being locked from the outside, and the keypad engaging.

She was alone, locked in, helpless. Her sentence had begun.


	6. Chapter 6

 

Without a window, Rey had no concept of the passage of time, she didn’t know if it was night or day. She paced the confines of her prison. She was tired, but couldn’t sleep, hungry, but unable to stomach food. Without the force, she felt disconnected from herself, apathetic and weak. She searched the room from top to bottom. It was more lavish than anything she’d ever seen. Anything that could be used as a weapon had been removed. The chairs at the table were too strong to break, no glass or sharp implements. Even the curtains that seemed to have hung around the four poster bed were removed, and Rey realised how seriously Kylo Ren had taken her threat of suicide, while barely showing any sign of listening. She listened at the door for signs of life, but it was too thick. She marvelled at how he might have set up such security so quickly, and decided that it must have already existed in some form. They were somewhere a high-level person had designed to be safe, and now it was being used as her gilded cage. There was a bathroom, accessed through a small door, without a mirror, and only a luxurious bath tub sunken into the floor, a toilet and basin.

Her skin disgusted her, her hair was filthy, matted with things she didn’t dare think about. She turned the taps on the bath, and closed the bathroom door. She didn’t want him to return and find her in the bath, vulnerable and naked, though, that seemed odd after the intimacy of heat, but she couldn’t stand her dirty skin any longer.

She naked she climbed into steaming water, an instant feeling of pleasure running through her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a bath, she realised. Maybe, her mother had given them to her, when she was a child. But in the Vaults, washing was done furtively, running damp strips of cloth under clothes, if at all, and in the barracks, showers were standard. She lay back in the water and closed her eyes, instantly feeling the odd missing part of herself that connected her to the force.

She worked at the collar, every few minutes, rising her hands to run fingertips along the smooth metal. She had never hated anything so much in her life as that cold, impersonal steel.

She thought about all she knew about Kylo Ren, a man who had appeared from nowhere, and taken up leadership of the formally scattered and disorganised First Order. An organisation that seemed muddied on its ideology, and had carried out few well planned demonstrations. That all changed when Kylo Ren took charge. He became a public face, a well known figure, always swathed in black, sometimes in a mask, his voice, hypnotic and low, spoke eloquently about the oppression of alpha and omega designations by power hungry betas. He spoke poetically about a time when the designations were balanced, and the world at peace. Rey had listened to little of it, but perhaps more than some. She knew that during conditioning, alphas were encouraged not to entertain seditious thoughts or feelings, or listen to radical teachings, such as the First Orders. Even if there was a grain of truth in their words, their message was lost to Rey, when they started to kill high up leaders in the beta government, ending with the previous Prime Minster, and Kylo Ren’s capture.

When the water started to cool, she got out, and let herself dry in the air, as there were no towels to use. No doubt worried she’d hang herself with one. She combed her fingers through her hair, and wondered what she might wear. The thought of being naked still when Kylo returned was unbearable. She went back to the room, and walked around once more, catching a slither of scent that was like perfume a moment. She followed it, intrigued by the pleasing aroma, and stopped in horror when she realised it was coming from the bed. The bed was a disaster, it smelled like heat and sex, it smelled like him, and she stood staring at it, feeling like crying, knowing that the luscious scent was his, and she was drawn to it. She hated her body at that moment, her designation, a life sentence of being a slave to instinct and base animal desire. She sat gingerly against the headboard, having nowhere else in the room to get comfortable, and closed her eyes. There was no denying it, his smell comforted her. She had felt comfort in his arms, even in the alarming strangeness of her first heat, he had been her anchor. It disturbed her to the core.

It had all been planned, Rey thought dully, as she tried to calm her breathing and rest. He had always been ahead of them, he had wanted to be sent to the Barrens, they had just fulfilled his desire to gain access to thousands of men like him. She had to escape him, this room, she couldn’t stay here like this, every day, caged up. She would go mad. Sometime in her desperate musings, she must have fallen asleep, curling into the sheets that stank of the alpha who had captured her, her hands, in their unconscious innocence, grabbing fistfuls of the white linen, and tucking her cheek against it, finally finding a dreamless sleep, surrounded by Kylo’s scent.

 

* * *

 

 

An electronic tone sounded from the door, and she looked up, scrambling to her feet, pulling the bedsheet around her, as the door opened. Kylo’s large frame filled the space as he came inside and locked it behind him. He carried a tray in his hands, atop a box, and the smell of roast meat filled the room. Rey’s stomach growled loudly, despite her clutching it. He cast a bemused glance at her, before crossing to the table and setting down his provisions.

She didn’t come to the table, until he stepped back. She couldn’t stop watching him, aware of how closely he was watching her back.

“You look more rested” he said approvingly. She didn’t respond, just stared. She wanted to attack him, rail at him for locking her up alone all day, for restricting her freedoms, this stranger who thought he had the right to own her. He approached, and she backed away. His eyes were predatory, that same burning desire he had revealed for her from the Phantom Traveller. Her back met the wall, and her heart started to pound. He did not stop approaching until she was caged in between his arms, as his hands rose to bracket her. He leaned in close, and breathed deep of her scent. She closed her eyes, and willed herself numb to his raw animal magnetism, his sheer presence making her omega instincts awake, and hunger for him in return.

“You’ve washed me away… my scent is barely distinguishable” he murmured against her skin.

“That is something that must be remedied.” He continued.

He growled, low in his throat, that same primitive sound he had used on her during heat, and just like before, her body responded. The sound washed over her like a hot wave of feeling, a hundred featherlike kisses, the caress of many unseen hands. She shivered with the longing it inspired, as she felt herself growing wet, slick sliding down her leg, the smell unmissable in the air. He growled again, smelling the evidence of her want for him, nuzzling his face into the hollow of her neck and shoulder, pressing stubbled lips against her skin there. She turned her face away, fingers gripped white on the sheet, and made her mind blank. The absence of the force screamed at her, her way of being peaceful lost, but she forced herself to find a new place, quiet, and safe, and far from the lust of her body.

He kissed along her jaw and over her cheek, up to her forehead, light kisses, before turning his attentions to her ear, sucking the earlobe, biting down, making her toes curl. But still, she stood as a statue, rigid and impassive. Another growl, this time in frustration.

“You will deny yourself pleasure?”

“I take no pleasure in your attentions”

“You took plenty during your heat, I bare the marks to prove it”

“Heat is not choice. Heat is biology without thought or emotion. Now I am myself, I do not choose you” she said simply, turning her eyes to his. He seemed arrested by her words. She thought a moment, perhaps, she had pushed too far, and he would simply take what she withheld. There was nothing to stop him, no one who would even care. Then, he surprised her once more.

“You have much self-control, little omega, and much fire. You are fortunate, that I enjoy you so” he said with a smirk.

He met her challenging stare a long time, and finally nodded to himself.

“Eat this, or I will return to make sure you do” he said simply, and turned, leaving swiftly through the door, the locks still falling into place as Rey reached for the food. Ever since the Vaults, when she had understood true hunger, she would never turn away food. Food was strength, and she needed to be strong.

She ate quickly with her fingers, sucking the hot roast chicken oil from her fingers, using bread to sop up the juices. She drank a long time from the paper cup he had left her, the material quickly crumpling under her moist fingers. It didn’t seem he would be trusting her with a proper glass again.

Once she had finished, her hunger sated, her eyes fell on the box.

She couldn’t guess what could be within, unsure of what kind of game Kylo Ren intended to play with her. She was at his mercy, he could so whatever he wanted with her, take whatever he wanted. He could put the severed heads of her pilot friends in a box and leave it in a room with her. Chilled at the thought, Rey hardened her heart, and with the tip of a finger, she pushed the lid of, and froze at the sight that greeted her.

It was her clothes from the base. Not her uniforms, but the casual clothes she would sometimes were on her down time. A long flowing tunic over loose and comfortable trousers. The belt she used to clinch the tunic around her slight waist was missing, no doubt as part of Kylo’s ongoing prevention of her threatened suicide. Underwear sat under the clothes, breast bands and pants, and then, two pairs of soft, cloth boots. She tried to picture his large, brutish hands picking out such delicate items, and couldn’t. Perhaps he had had some underling do it.

She scrambled into the clothes, the familiar touch of the fabric and smell more comforting than she could have imagined. She smoothed her hands over the excess fabric swathing her waist, and hugged herself close. She felt a smidgen closer to herself again.

Her hands still as she came to the bottom, and what she saw clenched her heart. A tiny doll, made up of stitched patches of fabric. A little pilot. The other thing she had taken from her childhood home. She recoiled from it like it was a serpent. She swallowed hard, her mind oscillating wildly. Invasion of her most private place by a monster, gratitude for the ability to cover her nakedness, something so basic she had never considered it a luxury before, comfort from her own possessions, mistrust of his motives. She didn’t know what to make of the box, of his actions. It felt like thoughtfulness, and the feeling of gratitude choked her. She was only here because he had kidnapped her. To be grateful to her jailor for allowing her something personal was the first step down a dark path. She vowed not to let her his mind games work on her, but she wouldn’t refuse her clothes. She felt stronger in them, and to remain naked just to reject his gift felt like he was winning even more.

 

 

The next day passed much the same way, she thought it was the next day anyway. She tried to follow her natural instincts of when to sleep and when to wake, to keep a better grip of reality. Kylo appeared like clockwork to deliver her meals, making no comment on seeing her wearing the clothes. He did not try to initiate sex again, since their stand-off. He simply came in, set down her tray, threatened her to eat it, and left.

 

 

Another night passed, and another after that. Rey stalked the confines of the room, did her old routine of exercises, push ups and burpees, anything to keep her muscles from driving her crazy.

When he came in the morning of the sixth day, she leapt up as the door opened, oddly relieved for the reminder that the real world and other people still existed. She stepped closer to him, as he set the tray down, wondering if he would say something more than his warning, before leaving. She realised she hadn’t spoken in almost a week.

“Who makes this food?” she asked, her voice low and gravelly, her throat felt unused and strange.

He looked to her with surprise, and then, the smallest flicker of relief.

“A chef, the best chef in the city actually. Do you like it?” he asked. She shrugged, her face warming at his inspection, at his proximity, and suddenly, she realised his plan. 

The loneliness was creeping in. She was becoming desperate for human company, even his.

“How long are you going to keep me here?” she asked, and he sighed, stepping away from the table. Rey followed a step, and he stilled as he realised it.

“As long as necessary”

“What do you think is going to change? That’ll I’ll be so lonely, I’ll welcome you? That you’ll come back from a day of murder and mayhem, and I’ll greet you, kiss your troubled brow, serve you dinner and then lead you to bed?” she sneered at him.

He cut of an abrupt bark of laughter, and she blinked at him.

“I don’t expect anything so domestic of you, Rey.”

“Then what do you want?” she demanded, and he opened his mouth, about to answer, before seeming to take a grip over himself and shutting it again.

“Please… I don’t understand” she pleaded.

“You’re not ready to understand” he said cryptically, before turning back toward the door.

“Wait! Don’t go yet” she called, hating herself for the words. But the brief interaction was the most stimulation she’d had all week.

“I wish to change the bedding” she said finally, as he paused.

“If you do, I will have to find a new way to scent you. Is there anything else I can do, to make you more comfortable?” he asked.

“Let me out” she said flatly, and he didn’t bother responding.

“Take the collar off” she continued, seeing she was pushing her luck, but unable not to needle him.

“Eat the food, or I’ll make you” he said, his usual parting shot.

“So – I’m going to die here alone in this room, without windows, your prisoner. I don’t even know if it’s night or day, I don’t even know what the city looks like anymore, if it still stands!” she said bitterly, and saw a muscle clench in his jaw.

“You’re not my prisoner, you’re my guest” he said, ignoring the rest of her complaint.

“Isolating me-“

“Isolating you from a society that is corrupt and putrid, so you might start to see the whole truth. Saving you from a society that forced a woman like you to hide her true nature her entire life, for fear that it would cost her everything-“ he broke in angrily.

“Hasn’t it?” Rey said quietly.

“Being an omega is the reason I am here now, alone, afraid-“

“I gave my word I wouldn’t hurt you” he growled.

“This is hurting me. Every day, locked up here, separated from the force is hurting me” she said, trying to make him see, trying to push understanding through the fragile crack that he had opened to her. He looked at her a long time, his face moving from frustration to sadness, and then, that same impenetrable expression that hid his thoughts from her.

“Eat your meal” he said. She stalled him once more before he left, desperation in her tone.

“If you are really not trying to drive me mad, I would like… my study books… from the base. There weren’t any in the box” she said. He had his hand on the door, but turned fully to her, a new light entering his eye. He looked over her clothed form with appreciation.

“Those clothes suit you, little one, far more than that faceless uniform I met you in. Are you glad to have them?”

“I won’t thank you for returning my own belongings to me, when I am only here under duress” she reminded him starkly.

“Of course not. There was little else to bring you might not hurt yourself with, and you won’t require books on military procedure. You had no books in your residence, only those training manuals. Why?” he asked, shifting tone, genuine curiosity entering his deep voice.

“We aren’t encouraged to read much else” she said honestly.

“Hmm, that makes a certain kind of sense” he said, opening the door.

 “What kind of sense?” Rey asked, leaning to the side to see outside the room, her eyes meeting only a dimly lit corridor, just as fancy as the inside of the rooms.

“You’re an intelligent woman, you’ll figure it out. See you soon, Rey” he said, with finality, and closed the door. She stared after him, her heart racing. All that he said, and all that he didn’t needed to be examined, if she was to work out how to free herself. Her brain was happy to turn over his cryptic behaviour, overjoyed to have something new to think on.

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning, Rey took a long bath, as she did every morning. It had become the highlight of her day. Having never had access to such an abundance of clean water, it was such a luxury to soak in the steaming hot liquid.

She dried in the bathroom, now featuring a towel, apparently, she had been deemed trustworthy of one, and put her clothes on.

When she stepped out into the bedroom, she stilled. The air was different. He had been in the space, while she was gone. His scent was fresh, and undisturbed. She looked around carefully for what he might have been doing.

There was a box on the table, clearly having been delivered by him, as well as food. She looked around and saw the pile of her clothes, waiting for washing, had been disturbed. She went to it, and sorted through, finding one of the long sleeveless tops she wore under her tunic was gone. He had taken it. She flushed as she thought of him picking up the garment, and holding it to his face. It felt vaguely threatening, but she wasn’t sure why. Just being reminded that he was a man, an alpha, a potent and virile one, who wanted her, was unsettling, like he was waiting, biding his time. She wondered if her scent was as inviting to him as his was to her.

She went to the box, determined to put thoughts of his intoxicating scent and ridiculous allure behind her.

She opened it with less trepidation than the first, and found herself holding slim, well-thumbed paperback books. She had rarely seen books, not since she had been a little girl, in a nursery surrounded by stories. Then, in the Vaults, they were burned for warmth. The government had banned many, before deciding there was little educational value in outdated stories. After that, Rey couldn’t quite remember the last time she had seen someone reading something other than a manual pertaining to their role, their job in society, or a newspaper.

She picked up the top one, and scanned the back. It was seditious, she could tell immediately, about a young prince who sought to end his tyrannical fathers rule, by strategizing and manipulating. Another was about another culture, very different from her own, and half a world away. Another was a historical volume, from hundreds of years ago. There didn’t seem to be anything similar about any of the books, except for how well-worn they were, and the fact that they were exactly the type of reading material that had been deemed unsuitable for Ventrios Prime, post Rising. She spied a note taped to the side of the box, and ripped it off, frowning at the perfect, almost beautiful scrawl of writing on it.

 

_“A window to see the world through –KR”_

 

Rey read throughout the day, only stopping to do her exercises, and her daily attempts to remove the collar. As soon as she had given up, she returned to the books. They were enthralling. She had never been as taken away from reality as she was in those precious hours. She almost forgot about her cell, her jailor and the state of the city, still unknown, beyond. For a brief while, she was free, roaming long gone streets, and interacting with long gone people.

When Kylo returned with her dinner that night, she was ready for him. He put the tray down, and went to leave, his eyes barely skimming over the books, sitting out on the table.

“Why did you give me these?” she asked, unable to bring herself to thank him for them.

“You lacked stimulation.” He said.

“Have you read this one?” she asked, holding up one in her hand.

“I’ve read all of them, many times”

“These are your books, aren’t they?” she guessed after a moment, unsure why the thought was unsettling to her. It seemed too personal a gift, too much to share, from the man who told her nothing, day in, day out.

“They are” he confirmed. She looked down at the one in her hand. She put it down on the table.

“Do you want me to take them away?” he asked, and Rey looked up at him, alarmed. She snatched the book back up. He looked taken aback by her action, and then, relieved.

“I didn’t mean that as a threat.” He said awkwardly. She stared down at the volumes.

“I know what you’re doing” she said after a long moment. He let out a long sigh, and she suddenly realised how terribly tired he looked. His skin was pale, washed out, his eyes pinched and tired. It seemed devastating a city and destroying the lives of millions took its toll.

“What would that be?” he asked.

“You’re trying to sway me to your cause, make me see your point of view”

“Is that so terrible?” he asked suddenly, his brow creasing.

“Do you really not wish to know what has moved so many people to rebel? Do you not want to know more of the time when people created literature, art and music, and life wasn’t experienced through a pharmaceutical haze? When people were free and alive?” he spoke so passionately for a moment, that charisma she had seen, even from the FO propaganda films, enthralling her just for a heartbeat.

“When omega numbers rivalled alphas, and they were a force to be reckoned with in society?” he continued.

“And I am supposed to believe you are doing all off this out of concern for omegas?” she laughed scornfully at him.

“You don’t care about anyone other than alphas, and if you care about omegas at all, it’s because you want all your followers to have willing victims to lock up and rape” her voice ended in a loud shout, echoing around the room, her frustration with her captivity and the unfathomable man before her reaching boiling point. He crossed to her in a flash, and pulled her tightly to him, his eyes flashing anger at her.

“I won’t try and convince you I am a good person, I know it’s pointless. I am the man you think I am. But I am also someone you feel safe with… safe enough to push and goad, to anger… there is a part of you that doesn’t think I am the monster you accuse me of being” he said, with frightening insight. Her chest heaving, she glared up at him, so close, as his fingers dug into her arms. She could feel heat radiating off him, could almost hear the beat of his heart through his chest, pressed against hers.

“Maybe you should exercise some restraint, Rey, trend a little more carefully… I’m a murderer, a monster and a mad man, according to you. Unless that is, you’d like to admit that I am not quite as terrible as you expected?” he challenged.

“Maybe I am not only a monster, but a man as well” he continued, and Rey shook her head vigorously.

“It burns to admit it… doesn’t it? That you feel it too… this power between us. That the darkness in me calls to the darkness in you, someone who has known fear, and hate, someone who has been truly alone… I see you, Rey Niima.”

“I see you too – Kylo Ren” she said suddenly, looking up and catching him with a feral stare.

“I see your insecurity and your weakness. I see your fear.” She breathed, unsure where the words were coming from, only that as soon as she spoke them, she knew them to be true. His eyes flashed at her a moment, but there was no false bravado on his features, no disagreement, as he leaned forward urgently, and captured her mouth in a searing kiss. His tongue was hot, and wet, as it pushed insistently inside her mouth, his teeth scraping along her lips, tugging, sucking, moving with maddening intent. She felt heat flood her body, as her arms opened around his shoulders, and without thought, she was embracing him, pulling him closer to her, needing to feel that strong heartbeat against hers. It felt like breathing after being underwater too long. It felt like sunlight in a dark place, like belonging and hope.

He walked her backwards, until her back met the wall, and he settled between her legs, hitching them up around his hips, his hands palming her bottom, squeezing hard handfuls of flesh. He was rigid against her centre, the long, wide shaped of his cock obvious even through their layers, as he rocked his hips against her, sending tendrils of pleasure curling through her body.

“You fascinate me” he growled against her lips, like a whispered confession, and she gasped as he lowered his head to her shoulder and bit the sensitive skin there, hard enough to mark. She felt a skittering jolt of fear for her mating gland, but he remained far from it, and she slipped back into the place where she acted on instinct, without thought or guilt. That would come later.

“And you disgust me” she sighed, while arching her back to give him greater access to her skin, as he pulled her tunic down off one shoulder. His laugh rumbled deep in his chest.

“It’s a start” he growled, making the fire inside her burn hotter. She didn’t know why she was doing it, why she was giving in, all she knew was how good it felt to be in his arms, to have the touch of his skin on hers. He was removing her tunic, and the cold air rushed over her skin, as he dragged her breast band down to her waist, his hungry gaze quickly going to her rosy nipples, already puckered in anticipation. He lowered his mouth to one, bending from his great height, to suckle at her nipples, his strong arms lifting her higher. Rey lost herself in sensation, the burning, rushing feeling of rightness inside her.

She felt whole, she realised, with dread, as she felt him pulling her leggings down, and off one foot, before picking her up again, his hands working at the opening of his trousers beneath her, all the while, his mouth worshiped her, and she shuddered in his grip. She knew she was wet for him, dripping and ready, and could already feel the phantom sensation of his heavy dick pushing into her, and clutched him closer, when she felt the smooth head brush her folds. He held her over it, not impaling her yet, and struggled back, looking at her through hazy, lust ridden eyes to find hers.

“If you’ve changed your mind, now’s the time” he murmured, his voice low and guttural. She couldn’t say the words, couldn’t tell him to continue, without dying a little, and so instead, said nothing, only leant forward, and brushed a kiss against his lips, chaste and soft, and the very first one she had ever initiated. He froze for a moment, his eyes desperately conveying an emotion she wasn’t ready to recognise.

Monsters did not feel, she told herself, as he whispered her name and pushed inside. The stretch was as uncomfortable as she remembered, even with her abundant slick easing his entry. But with the discomfort came the satisfaction of being full of him, bursting over, completely and utterly taken, by this man. He let out a breath when he reached his hilt, before starting to move. She clung onto his shoulders, and tightened her thighs, as his strong hands lifted her up and down on his hard shaft, with increasing speed and urgency.

She felt a building in herself, her first orgasm since heat. Her first clear minded release, at the hands of Kylo Ren, with no excuse. There was none she might make, except that she was tired of being alone, and afraid and being with him made something inside her sing. She felt as she always did then, for that pool of power inside her, the force, her joy, her connection to the world, and stiffened in shock as she felt something respond to her call.

It rose within her, filled her, as Kylo pounded into her, her back hard against the wall. The force. She could feel it. Kyo was breathing harshly, his lips back on hers, and the feeling of the force only intensified, the more contact they had. It was different than she usually felt it. While her connection to the force was usually warm and soft, like a napping in a sunlit spot, in a safe, cosy place, this connection felt cool, fresh, like bathing in a natural spring in the heat of summer. It surged brighter within her, as Kylo kissed her forehead, and then, her cheeks, running his lips along her jaw.

It was his, she suddenly realised. This was Kylo Ren’s connection to the force, and she could feel it, when they touched. Just as she had been able to feel when he was using his power, now, she could touch it, through him.

The force suppressor was programmed by his power, his touch. Using the connection she had discovered, she might be able to emulate it. She might be able to take the collar off.

She came hard, at the same time as he did, her mind jumping ahead to how she could test it, when she might try and escape.

He pulled her back off the wall, his breathing ragged, a sated smile on his face, and carried her to the bed, gently laying her flat, his knot still nestled inside her. He lay to the side, and pulled her close against his chest, wrapping both arms there to hold her, as she explored the connection, relishing the touch of his skin against hers, and the freedom it might gain her.


	7. Chapter 7

Rey lay in the warm bath water the next morning, holding her hands out in front of her, looking at the way the droplets of water ran over her fingers, remembering how it had felt to fill them with the force, missing it intensely.

Her body felt a stranger to her that morning, when she had awoken alone in bed, the smell of Kylo Ren all around, inside her, and felt a pang, when she’d seen he had left while she’d been asleep, just for a heartbeat, but it was enough to condemn her.

His plan was working. He had isolated her, and now, in her loneliness, she had started to miss him. She was becoming dependent on him for human interaction, and her body was becoming accustomed to being unblocked. Unblocked from being an omega, and in close proximity to a man who made her heart race. He was everything her instincts hungered for, strong and powerful, protective and providing. That he gave her books when she was bored, or talked of lost worlds of art and music could all yet be mind tricks, simple manipulation, but there was part of Rey that knew it wasn’t, and that was the most frightening thing of all. He believed himself to be a justice warrior, and Rey could start to see inside that hard exterior of a hardened criminal. A murderer, muddied in the waters of confusing political times. But he had killed innocents, in the attack on the city, Rey reminded herself endlessly, and he would kill more, as he fought to rule Ventrios Prime. While she might assign him goodness, in an attempt to reconcile her feelings, it did not erase his crimes.

She thought again of Kylo’s force connection, and the way she had felt it inside her. She could use it, she knew she could, if she had the chance to experiment.

“A penny for your thoughts” his voice spoke quietly from the doorway, and Rey started, sitting up, and trying to sink down simultaneously. She hadn’t heard him coming in, so caught up in her thoughts. She sank under the water, and held her hands over her breasts. Quite why she felt so modest, after the previous night, she didn’t know. His eyes never wavered from her face, but his full lips tugged into a half smirk. It really wasn’t fair that such an awful person should be given that face, Rey through wryly.

“I was thinking… I want out of here” she said stubbornly, knowing it to be a comment that would knock the pleasant look off his face. His smiled dropped, and he sighed, crossing his arms over his massive chest, and leant against the door jam.

“You are persistent, little one” he said.

“Do you think it brings me joy, to keep you in here?” he continued.

“Yes” Rey said immediately, bringing her knees under her chin and staring at him. He returned her gaze, his expression regretful, yet, there was a softness there that worried Rey.

“I had thought maybe after last night, we could get along a little better, without all this needless fighting” he said.

“What? You are going to tell me about the city you’ve ruined, and the lives you’ve destroyed, all in the name of balance… tell me your plans, and get my opinion on it?” she sneered, and blinked at him when he nodded.

“Why not?” he murmured.

“I told you, you are my guest, my most esteemed one… we don’t have to be at odds, it doesn’t have to be this way” he said, coming closer, making her stiffen. He lowered a hand to twirl an escaped tendril of hair around his finger.

“You just have to accept your new situation – accept me as your alpha” Rey laughed softly.

“And – there it is… the price of freedom” she muttered to him.

“Nothing is without a price, Rey. You already know that”

She thought on his words, and turned her face up to meet his gaze.

“So, if I were to tell you right now, that I agree to be yours, and I accept you wholly as my alpha” she stumbled over the words, but pressed on.

“You would take the collar off, and I’d be allowed to leave here, today?” she asked. His brown eyes melted into hers, and his hand came up to cup her cheek, a broad thumb rubbing across her cheek.

“It would be a conversation to have… if I thought you meant it” he said seriously. Her lips turned into a smirk.

“So, you wouldn’t trust my word?” she goaded. His eyes narrowed at that, and he crouched down on his haunches beside her.

“We could pair bond and I would take the collar off” he said quietly. She stared at him, her smirk dying from her lips, and swallowed hard. He had called her bluff. There is no chance she would accept being bitten by him, not even to have the force back again.

“That’s what I thought” he murmured, seeing the refusal in her eyes.

“Don’t pretend it’s something you want either – that intimacy, that weakness… your life being tied to mine hardly benefits you” He didn’t respond, merely watched her with his golden hazel eyes.

“Whilst I enjoy conversing with you, I came to say goodbye” he said, slowly tucking that loose curl behind her ear. Her eyes widened.

“Where are you going? Who is going to feed me?” she asked immediately. He smiled, a real genuine grin, and she fought down the recognition of how handsome he was again.

“And there I thought it was my company you so enjoyed…” he teased.

“A trusted follower will provide you anything you need”

“Freedom? Liberation from this leash” she ground out.

“Except that, I’m afraid. Anything else, ask Phasma”

“Is he… a beta?” she asked nervously. Ben shook his head.

“She’s an alpha and isn’t a danger to you, don’t be afraid. I wouldn’t put you in danger” he said.

“Except from yourself, of course” Rey muttered.

“Of course” he murmured mildly.

He stared at her a moment longer, his dark eyes resting on her exposed skin.

“What?” she said, wrapping her arms tighter around her chest, his regard warming her skin too much. She didn’t want to risk a repeat of the previous night, not until she had a plan in place.

“Be good, Rey… if you aren’t, I’ll be told” he called back to her as she watched him saunter toward the door.

“And you won’t enjoy my punishment, little one… but I sure as hell will” was the last that floated back to her, before the door quietly closed.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Kylo’s trusted follower was everything Rey had expected, and several things she hadn’t. She was built like an alpha, that was certain, from her towering height and regal solidity, she was not someone that Rey wanted to make angry. She was blonde and pale, her long hair tied back severely, wearing the customary black of all followers, and Kylo himself.

She entered the room with a bustling efficiency, putting down the tray, and looking around. She turned to Rey, and proceeded to inspect her closely, from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes. Where Rey might have felt fear in this inspection, it was oddly missing. The alpha’s scent was unusual, perhaps being female, Rey had never met one before, but there was something else to it, a softness, she couldn’t name.

“Want a picture?” she bit out, becoming annoyed at Phasma’s long probing look.

“Kylo would never allow it” the blonde woman said dismissively, before turning to look around the room, going over to the bathroom and peering inside.

“Don’t get agitated omega, I’m just curious is all” Phasma said, as she leant against the wall, and gestured to the food.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“I can wait until you leave” Rey said pointedly, unsure what to make of this encounter.

“Hmm, so he leaves you to eat alone, does he? Not very gentlemanly” Phasma said with a grin.

“It would be worse to make me suffer his presence in staying” Rey said immediately, and Phasma laughed, a rich, warm sound.

“I like you. Kylo needs someone to knock him down a peg or two” she said, coming over to the table, and reaching out for a piece of chicken, snagging it, and wolfing it down.

“You don’t mind, do you? We don’t get anything like this in the halls” she said, turning her attention to the food. Rey watched her in silence.

The tall woman ripped into the chicken leg in her hand, closing her eyes as she chewed.

“Ohh!” she suddenly gasped, and put her hand to her abdomen, hidden under her heavy coat.

“She likes it…” Phasma said, and smiled at Rey. Rey was struck by that moment. That smile, on a follower’s face, it was pure, and happy. It was full of hope. It was not what she had expected. It explained the altered scent.

“You’re pregnant?” she asked, tentatively coming forward. Phasma nodded, swallowing the last of her chicken.

“Three months. Still early, but – maybe this time” her face was open, and Rey was intrigued by her words. She knew it was beyond difficult for alpha females to carry children, or get pregnant in the first place.

“The Barrens wasn’t the best place to carry to term” was all Phasma said, to Rey’s enquiring look. Rey swallowed down her shock at the words. The Barrens was supposed to be a male only prison. To leave a woman up there seemed unthinkable. She pushed the plate nearer to her.

“Eat more… I’m not very hungry” Phasma laughed, as she pulled up a chair.

“Liar – according to Kylo, you’re always ravenous” she said, but accepted the plate, and started to eat. Rey frowned harder at her words, trying to imagine Kylo Ren saying them.

“He talks about you, a lot. It’s annoying” Phasma said, seeming to care little for the information she was spilling, as she ate.

“Though, now I’ve met you, smelled you… I can sort of understand” Phasma continued.

“What do I smell like?” Rey asked, curiously. Phasma slanted her gaze at her, chewing hard.

“Honestly?” Rey nodded.

“His. You smell like his” Phasma said.

“That upsets you?” she asked, as Rey stiffened in her seat. She kept her face impassive as she shrugged.

“It shouldn’t.” Phasma announced, “Smelling like Kylo is a good thing… it means protection, safety”

Rey wrapped her arms around her middle.

“What if the he’s the one I need protection from?” she mused.  
“Do you? Has he hurt you?” Rey didn’t answer, just watched her food disappearing at an alarming rate.

“It goes both ways, you know? He smells like you too… like yours. Keeps the other bitches from trying to creep into his bed” Phasma said merrily.

“I don’t care about that” Rey insisted, feeling her cheeks grow hot as Phasma levelled a look at her.

“Don’t you?” she murmured mildly.

“If anything, I wish he would find someone new to become obsessed with, and lock up and torment” she grumbled. Phasma laughed aloud at that, and pushed back from the table.

“I knew I liked you, Rey” she said again, her eyes twinkling.  

“Catherine – you were supposed to bring the food and leave” a sneering voice spoke from the doorway, and both women looked up. Rey jumping, unsure who the new stranger was, and Phasma guiltily.

“Rey is lonely, people need interaction Hux, we aren’t all robots like you” Phasma huffed as she stood, and wiped her grease stained fingers on her thighs.

“I’ll bring you something more to eat… since you’re so hungry” the blond said, and Rey nodded playing along. Hux was watching them suspiciously.

“Thank you” Rey said, watching Phasma take the tray toward the doorway, and the red-haired man there. He was the one from the ship, she recognised him easily. He was staring at her hard, a red flush working up his neck.

“You go and do that… I’ll look after Ren’s little toy until you return”

“You aren’t allowed in here Hux, and you know it” Phasma said firmly, standing in the doorway.

“She needs stimulation, Catherine, you said so yourself.” He reminded her, his eyes moving over Rey in a way that made her skin crawl.

“Don’t make me tell Kylo-“

“How are you going to do that? He’s busy, if you’ve forgotten, and the Supreme Leader will not enjoy being interrupted during his training… not even his golden boy would escape his wrath. I wonder if he even knows what Ren has hidden away here?” Their conversation was confusing to Rey.

“You know what Kylo will do to you if you touch one hair on her head…” Phasma was growing angry now, Rey could feel the alpha pheromones mixing in the air, it was frightening. The tall blonde stepped up to Hux, her beautiful face sombre, and Rey felt a protective urge to stand between the pregnant woman and the looming aggressive male alpha.

“Let me guess, he’d kill me” Hux jeered again.

“You wouldn’t be that lucky… maybe eventually… but not for a long, long time” Phasma warned. They stared at each other, as Rey watched, bated breath. Finally, Hux stepped back.

“You’re not much of a threat, in that condition. Why you blindly follow Ren, I’ll never know”

“He’s a leader, he’s our leader, and he has earned it” Phasma snapped.

“He’s earned my loyalty and he’s earned my respect”

“Do you think he’ll protect you, when it all comes together? You or this little bastard you’re carrying? Do you think he’ll care” Hux sneered.

Rey’s hip bumped the table just then, her silent retreat suddenly noticed, and both seemed to realise that she was there, watching them.

“And if his final step of training kills him?” he continued, and glanced back at Rey with a promise in his eyes.

“Then she’s mine” he said, with a frightening smile, before turning away and storming out the door. Catherine looked after him, looking pained, before hurrying that way, tossing back over her shoulder.

“I’ll make sure he goes, and be back with the food” and she was gone.

Rey stared at where they had been standing. So much insight, so much information, spilled all around her in those few short moments, and she had no idea what to make of any of it.

 

She had nail marks, embedded in her arms, where she had gripped too tight, watching them almost come to blows. She stood staring at the door for long moments, until a realisation gripped her.

 

The door was open.

 

Catherine had neglected to lock it after her, her hands full of the tray and the threat of Hux. Rey took a step forward, and then another. She was so paranoid, she wondered if this was a test, if Kylo was waiting to see what she would do. He had warned her he would know if she wasn’t a ‘good girl’, whatever that meant.

 

She reached the threshold and peered out. The corridor was long, smooth honey coloured stone and recessed lighting leading upwards, the whole angle tilting down toward her rooms.

She stepped out, a thrill running through her at the sensation of taking a step outside her prison. She took another, looking around all the while, straining her entire body for a whisper of a sound, something that would tell her if she was being watched or not.

 

There was nothing. She couldn’t pass up the opportunity. She started down the corridor.

She walked gently upwards, following the lights, too oddly modern for the building they were in. After a while, the floor turned to cold marble the walls became less rustic. She could see a window ahead, her heart beating wildly, she made for it.

The corridor was still deserted, but she could see further on, an intersection of other ways. She reached the window and looked out, her heart stopping, before resuming its beat, harder than before. The city spread before her. There was no more smoke or ruin, but she could see the shells of some buildings that had been hit. In the distance, she could see the remnants of the supply ship she had brought down, peppered about the sector. They were still in judicial, then, she surmised. As she took in the surrounds, another ship settled in the gardens outside, she realised there was no mistaking where they were.

In the Tower, the home of the Prime Minister and seat of government. Black clad followers milled about in the gardens, along with what looked like regular Ventrios Prime civilians.

A sudden, echoing laugh boomed down the corridor, and Rey turned to see two men, clad in black, at the intersection, only 20 or so metres from her. They had stopped, and were talking. She crept closer, desperate for information.

There was an alcove, near another window, and she crept slowly toward it, and snuck inside, straining to hear their conversation.

‘-it’s what they all say” the two men laughed a little more, before sobering.

“I’ve got to go – got a raid tonight” one said briskly.

“Another one?”

“We can’t stop until we find this so-called resistance”

“Not so-called… they did manage to destroy the southern base”

“That was pure luck”

“Luck or not, I knew people over there” The other man grunted.

“How long until they try their luck here?” He continued, as they turned, and began to drift away. Rey pressed herself into the alcove. A resistance? Maybe some of her friends from the base had survived, maybe there were people left who would fight against the First Order. Hope flared inside, as she peered back around the corner, and saw a flash of blonde hair coming her way.

She had only moments to make her decision. She turned back toward the sloping corridor, and ran as fast as she could.

She still had the collar on, it was a miracle no one had scented her as it was. She had no plan, no idea of what to do, and no way to defend herself. It wasn’t the right time to attempt escape. She gained her room and rushed inside, leaving the door in the same, casually open way. She went straight to the bathroom and closed the door, waiting for Catherine to realise her mistake.  
“Rey?” Catherine’s voice was mildly panicked, as she came in and set the tray down. Rey flushed the toilet, and washed her hands. She came out, making every effort to appear unhurried.  
“Yes?” she said, nonchalantly. She hoped Catherine would merely think she had been in the bathroom the entire time.

“Nothing – just, brought your food” Phasma said, and Rey noticed the door was now securely closed.

“Thanks… we can share” Rey offered, as she sat down, and gestured for the other woman to join her. Her mind was racing through everything she’d heard. About Kylo’s training, another shadowy figure who he answered to, a resistance carrying out attacks. Knowledge was power, and bit by bit, Rey squirreled all she had learned away.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Almost a week passed before Rey saw Kylo again. In that time, she read and slept, ate with Phasma and did her exercises, pacing the confines of her cage. Phasma never neglected to shut the door again.

She was aware of a jagged anxiety in the pit of her stomach, a clenching, roiling pain sometimes, in the night, it would wake her, panting and doubling over from it. Her dreams were affected by it, endless visions of dark places, the wet drip of blood, pained, rasped breathing, sometimes, the whisper of her name. She was tired during the days, longing for sleep, but afraid of the nightmares at the same time. It was Kylo, she knew it, though avoided thinking about it. The strange connection they shared seeping through into her dreams. She was watching his nightmares, she guessed, and felt an uncomfortable sense of pity growing in her belly, for a man whose very sleep was so tormented by demons.

One day, a sudden, shocking terror griped her, sent her to her knees, when she was having lunch with Catherine. The other woman had rushed to her side and helped her up, as Rey had cried, nonsensical tears. The feeling had passed slowly, but Rey couldn’t forget that fear, pure, undiluted horror. It wasn’t hers, she realised, as Catherine rubbed warm circles on her back, and pushed her hair back from her sweating brow. There was only one person it could be.

When he came to see her, the anxiety had started to fade, the pain a memory, but a vivid one. She was reading on a plush chair that Catherine had provided, lost in a story, when the sound of the door opening had sent her to her feet. It wasn’t the right time for Phasma to visit, and Rey had known immediately, that it was him. The awareness she felt in his presence hummed to life in her belly, and she had stood, the book slipping through her fingers to the chair, her heart already beating harder.

His scent was the first thing she noticed, that spicy musk that smelt of comfort to her, but this time, laced with something dark and raw. Pain, she realised, as he stepped into the room, moving a little stiffly.

He looked terrible, well, as terrible as someone as attractive as him could. Rough shaven, his long, wavy hair unkempt, his eyes were bloodshot and he even seemed thinner, paler.

Then he was moving toward her at a startling speed, given how hurt he looked, and his strong arms had twisted her around, and pined her face down across the back of the chair, his hips pressed into her back, her hands were vices around her upper arms, and his face was buried in her nape, his nose brushing across the mating gland. He inhaled deeply, a faint, primal rumble echoing through her chest from his. Her heart was beating wildly, her trapping sending her omega instincts into an involuntary state of arousal. She hated the animal inside her then, that it would be impressed by her alpha’s display of strength and ownership. _Her alpha_. Kylo growled behind her in approval, as though he had heard her thoughts.

“Yield to me, Rey” he muttered against her skin, his voice more beast than man at that moment. She shook her head tightly, as he brought her hands behind her back, so he might hold her wrists with one hand, and raised the other to circle her throat. He tilted her head back, making her body arch, her hips bending further against his. He nudged his hips against hers, making her more than aware of his desire, long and thick, pressed against her. Slick started to gather between her legs, as she started to hate herself a little more.

“Tell me you want me, need me” he grunted, as his hand released her neck, and moved to her leggings. She pinned her legs together and twisted all the more under him.

“Tell me you’ll stay with me… be mine… tell me it was all lies” he was whispering, distracting Rey momentarily from her struggle. He barely smelled like himself, she realised, so clouded was his usual scent by pain and darkness. She reached for his connection to the force, and was shocked to find it a jagged, swollen thing. He seemed lost in the swirling dark inside.

“Kylo, you are hurting me” she said clearly, though it wasn’t completely true. What frightened her the most of how even forced, her body would accept his desires, enjoy his rough claiming. She was losing the thread of where she began and he ended, losing sight of herself.

“Please – you promised not to hurt me” she said more firmly, and felt him falter. His fingers, diligently working their way into her leggings, where they were only moments away from finding the gathering slick there, paused.

“Let me up, you’re hurt too… let me see” she said quietly. His breathing had evened, and his heart no longer pounded inside her head too. Gentle, almost reverently, he pulled her up and steadied her. She faced away from him still, calming herself. He was a raging wall of emotion and pain at her back. His hands were resting gently on her shoulders now, and she could feel his head tip forward, leaning his forehead against the very top her head, murmuring words she couldn’t hear.

“Are you alright?” he asked finally, stepping away. It was like losing the ground beneath her feet all at once, and she swayed, but his hands were there to steady her. She turned around, and he pulled his hands quickly back, falling to his sides, his shoulders slumped with weariness.

“I’m fine” she said briskly, looking him over.

“What’s wrong with you?” she asked, and he gave a hollow laugh.

“There’s a question” he said, rubbing a hand over his bloodless features.

“Can I – just for a moment?” he gestured toward the bed. She nodded warily.  
“Will you… sit near me, just for a while, until it passes” he said cryptically, going to the bed, and sitting heavily. Rey lingered near, before edging closer. He looked up and caught her hesitant stare.

“I won’t touch you” he said. She perched on the edge of the bed, and saw some of the tension leave his shoulders.

He seemed to fold into himself, sitting there, barely moving. His chest was rising and falling evenly, and she realised that he was breathing deeply. Her scent in the enclosed space was probably powerful, she realised.

“Are you hurt?” she asked after a long moment.

“If I say yes, are you going to try and kill me?” he asked hoarsely. Rey was struck by the question.

“It hadn’t occurred to me, but, now you mention it-“ she said. He threw her a wry look.

“Unfortunately for you, I’ll survive.” He said at last.

“I’m sorry” he said flatly.

“Are you apologizing for not dropping dead right now?” she asked, shifting to get more comfortable on the bed, crossing her legs and staring at his defeated figure.

“It would be the best outcome for you… so I suppose so” he said. Rey wasn’t sure what to say. This was a different man than the one she had come to know a little off. The confident leader, the passionate rebel and unapologetic lover.

“Not really, how would I get the collar off, if you died?” he let out a snort of laughter.

“Very practical of you, little one” She shrugged.

“Where have you been?”

“It doesn’t matter” he said immediately.

“You said something about lies…” she said tentatively. He swung his head to look at her. His hazel eyes were shadowed, smudged purple underneath. They focused somewhere in the distance.

“I wish they were lies… but they aren’t. The force is never wrong”

“You saw something?”

“Not me, someone far stronger. He saw the future.” He said, turning his gaze back to hers.

“What did he see?”

“You. You running free, uncollared and sublime. You – leaving me to die” he said darkly, and eerie sensations prickled the skin up Rey’s arms as she watched him. She didn’t know how to respond to such a statement.

“Why would you tell me that?” she asked after a while, swallowed a sudden thickness in her throat.

“To give you hope, little omega. You will not always be burdened with my company” he said simply, turning his gaze to the wall, and gasping as he shifted. Rey looked down at his torso, covered by his coat.

“Let me look at your wounds” she said, surprising herself. She didn’t want to care if he was hurt, she wanted to enjoy his pain, but at this moment, she couldn’t quite bring herself to.

“Why would you help me, Rey?” he asked, looking tired beyond belief again.

“Call it boredom” she said, standing, and making for the bathroom, so he wouldn’t see the lie on her face. He followed after her slowly.

“Top off” she indicated in a brisk manner, and gestured to the side of the bath. One thing her bathroom had always been stocked with was first aid supplies, and now she pulled out several things. When she turned back, he had taken off his heavy coat, and t-shirt, and Rey flattened her mouth into a line to avoid reacting to the vision that awaited her. It was a study in pain. His impressive shoulders, his narrower, but heavily muscled abdomen, streaked with careless lashes and what seemed like burns. They criss-crossed him randomly, with several being deeper than others, with blood seeping from them.

“You haven’t been to medical yet. You came straight here” she realised as she approached, looking unsurely at the disinfectant spray in her hand. It hardly seemed up to the task. It was almost an accusation, because she couldn’t quite believe someone would walk around with such damage without going straight for treatment.

“I was impatient to check on you” was all he said, as she laid a hand on his shoulder to brace herself. She held the disinfectant spray and met his eyes a moment.

“This is going to hurt” she murmured, and he nodded solemnly.

“Have your fun” he murmured, as she started to spray. The flesh bubbled in places where the deep wounds had bled and were dirty, as the liquid went inside and countered the infection. She moved her intention to his back, and gasped as she saw a particularly deep, jagged wound, alongside the scar of the one she had given him with the shard of glass, only weeks ago.

She reached out a finger, and very gingerly traced around it, touching the reddened skin that surrounded the site.

“Does it hurt?” she whispered.

“Yes” he answered, surprising her with his honesty. Most alphas she knew, or betas too for that matter, were more self-conscious about appearing weak before females. They would bluster and pump themselves up. The posturing was just another thing Rey hated about dating in Ventrios Prime.

“Good” she murmured in reply, but her heart wasn’t in it. She picked up the cleaning solution, and sprayed it liberally over the deep cut. He didn’t so much as flinch under her rough treatment. She blotted off the spray with hard, careless presses of a piece of gauze.

“Enjoying yourself?” he murmured, a lower, more throaty tone to his voice, and she glanced up, realising how close she had gotten, his face floated only a little away from hers, and his hazel eyes were warm. She felt lost at the moment, when she realised how little she satisfaction she was feeling. He must have read her expression.

“It’s not your nature to enjoy another’s suffering, Rey. The light inside you, it doesn’t allow for such dark delights… It doesn’t mean you care about me, you just care about people. It’s your weakness, and your strength” he murmured. She avoided his eyes, as she returned to the medical supplies she had gathered, and picked up a fresh bandage, smearing a thick layer of bacta over the inside.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, this is the most fun I’ve had all day” she lied.

“Sure it is. Did Phasma take good care of you?” he asked, his voice was a husk, as though it had been worn away.

“I like her” she said finally, and saw the slightest smile tug his lips.

“Of course you do… she’s just as much of a troublemaker as you are”

 

After she finished, Kylo put his shirt back on, and returned to the bedroom, as Rey packed away her supplies.

There was an air of expectation, and she felt nerves coil in her belly, unsure why, even when Kylo turned his tired eyes to her. He looked longingly at the bed, and suddenly it clicked in her head. His guard was down, he was hurt, weaker than usual, and he had clearly missed being near her. Maybe, it was the chance she had been waiting for. There was something distasteful at the prospect of trying to escape when he was incapacitated but she pushed it away. This was war, and any weakness had to be exploited.

Through the new filter of her ulterior motive, she sighed, and reached her hands over her head, stretching, innocently enough, but she saw by the way Kylo’s eyes ran down her body, that she needed no obvious seduction to draw his attention. It was always there, waiting.

In fact, she was sure that anything too eager would be a red flag to him, and so tried her best to keep her face in her usual expression.

“Where do you usually sleep?” she asked, as she walked toward her chair, and curled up in it.

“With the followers. I’m not above them” he said, watching her closely.

“Except that you are their leader”

“That only makes it more important to be accessible, to suffer the conditions they suffer…”

“You must trust them a lot” she said. He arched an eyebrow at that.

“Or else, you wish to demonstrate that even in sleep, you are not afraid that someone could hurt you” she continued musingly.

“Perhaps a little both” he conceded, and settled on the edge of the bed, seeming a little surprised that she would engage him in conversation again, but pleasantly so.

“When you are strong, show weakness, and when you are weak, show strength” she said, quoting one of his books. His lips curved in smiling acknowledgement.

“I knew you were a quick study Rey.”

“Why did you give me those books?” she asked, wrapping her arms around her knees, and propping her chin on top.

“I had heard complaints of boredom-“

“I mean… why _those_ books, your books?” he let out a sigh, and relaxed a little as he answered.

“Books open a door to another way of thinking, another way of living. They push and enlighten, they expand people’s worlds… books are dangerous in Ventrios Prime. They are a weapon.”

“So… why would you arm me?” she asked.

“Because despite what you think, Rey. I don’t want to hurt you, and don’t want you to be hurt” he said quietly. She thought for a while.

“I think you’re right. Books are dangerous here… and I think that’s why they were banned. Ventrios Prime is not a not a place to question or think. It’s a place to follow orders, and swallow propaganda. Books might challenge the carefully constructed mind-set the current powers that be carefully cultivate. I’ve been following orders for years, and thrived on it. I can’t believe I never saw it before – and now I can’t stop seeing it. Now, it’s not the same… I – question… and it is unsettling.”

“Change is always unsettling. True freedom is… terrifying”

“Are you free?” she asked him suddenly.

He held her gaze a long time, and then, whatever he might have said slipped away. He looked down at his hands, and the moment was lost.

He looked tired, but also peaceful, sitting there, and she decided to leave him to relax, all the better to get his guard down. She started to quietly tidy up, staking her books back on the bookshelves, and folding the warm cover and pillow she had used in her chair. It could only have been minutes, but when she turned around, Kylo had slumped against the headboard, his eyes closed.

Anticipation roared through Rey. This was it, she could almost taste it. He was exhausted, she didn’t even have to lie and convince him to stay.

She stepped toward him, lowering the lighting in the room from a panel on the wall, until only a dim glow surrounded them. She approached, and crept onto the bed beside him.

He was out, as far as she could tell. His pale skin luminous in the darkness, beauty spots scattered across his face, enigmatic features, relaxed for once. He looked so young, she found herself thinking. Almost innocent, for want of a better phrase, even though she knew he was anything but.

His sleeve was rolled back a little, and she could see a peak of his wrist, his hand curled up loosely. Closer still she crept, trying not to jostle him as the bed dipped under her knees.

Her fingers reached out toward the back of his hand. Her pulse was roaring inside her when she finally made contact, and felt the sweet, singing connection of his force power rush into her. She closed her eyes for a moment, so grateful to feel that wholeness, before he moved, and she jumped with fright. He was turning, pulling his long legs onto the bed, and still appeared asleep. She hovered at his side, unsure of where to go.

He suddenly turned his face to hers, his expression confused.

“Rey?” he mumbled thickly. Following her instincts, she scooted forward, and laid her head on his shoulder, and her hand onto his, resting on his belly, and made a noise she hoped sounded sleepy. He seemed to tense under her, realising their position, but gradually, she felt his face nuzzle into the top of her head, and then, he seemed to sink further into the bed. She waited a long time for him to wake, for him to have been pretending, all the while, exploring the force inside her.

She followed the threads of the power, feeling out everywhere it connected to, all things connected by their energy, a living, part of the force.

She felt the collar, saw it glowing a blood red in her mind’s eye, eating up the light that touched it all around. It was the colour of Kylo’s force, red and vivid. Tendrils of that power remained around the metal, curling off like steam.

She could see where he would touch it to deactivate it, and she began to raise her hand toward it. Her fingers met the cold metal, and she tried to take deep, meditative breaths, to stay calm, although he might wake any moment. Her fingers slid along, and she started to push Kylo’s force signature into the device. It had to think she was him, and merely taking it off. She pushed harder in her mind, all her desperation and uncertainty pouring in. It didn’t respond. She stifled the urge to swear loudly, and tried to think. It had to think she was Kylo. Kylo didn’t feel desperate and uncertain. He felt possessive, and powerful. He felt anger, most of all. She pushed those new feelings toward the collar, and felt it start to respond to her.

A loosening, the smallest gap, and she was pushing all the force she could between the teeth of that opening. A soft click, and the collar loosened around her neck, and the force surged in.

She clenched her eyes shut, her whole body quivering in the grip of the power that filled her up, like a dam bursting, it surged through her.

Her hands were clenched into fists, and every muscle strained to accept her power.

Eventually, she adjusted, the pounding in her temples subsiding gradually, and she opened her eyes. She saw everything through the lens of the force now. Colours were brighter, shadows darker. She carefully pulled the hated collar off her neck, and moved onto the second part of her plan.

Kylo was lying still, oblivious to what she had achieved just beside him. His chest rose and fell evenly, as she pushed herself carefully out his hold, her head coming off his shoulder, to sit over him. A spectre in the dark about to tie a muzzle on an alpha. She lowered the collar toward his neck, wondering how it could possibly fit, but she had to try. She had no back up.

She circled his neck with the collar, and stealing herself, knowing that he would wake as soon as it touched him, pushed the end underneath him, his weight on the pillow making the connection difficult to clasp.

His eyes shot open as the cold metal touched his neck, and his head come up off the pillow, and in that instant, the ends touched, and Rey pushed her force into locking it.

“Rey – no!” he growled, pushing her to the side so he could stand. She rolled off the other side of the bed smoothly, and stared at him. They faced each other across the bed, his face was darkly furious, as his hand came up to touch the collar.

“This won’t hold me” he promised.

“Looks like it’s doing fine so far” she taunted back, as she started to back toward the door. He countered, raising his large hands toward her, as though he were trying to gently a wild animal.

“Sweetheart, think about this, before you risk your life”

“You’ve taken my life from me – this isn’t a life” she responded. Her words hit him hard, and his face hardened further.

“It’s dangerous out there, Rey. I don’t want to see you hurt”

“Of course, unless you’re the one doing it?” she goaded. He was edging closer, and she threw her hand up, the force crackling around her fingers. He stopped and watched her.

“Come closer and I will end you” she promised.

“No, you won’t. You can’t. It’s not who you are” he said after a moment’s hesitation, and started toward her again.

“In your condition, this will finish you off” she warned, as she flexed her power. He seemed to consider her words a moment, before nodding grimly.

“So be it” he said, and stepped once more toward her. She swore under her breath, and let her power fly at him. He fell backwards, his breath leaving his body as he was pinned to the floor by an invisible weight. She trapped his arms and legs as well, so he was prostrate before her, as she crept closer.

“You’re right. I can’t kill you. Not yet anyway” she said softly, as she reached his head, and crouched low over him.

“I’ll come after you, Rey – there is nowhere you can go that I won’t find you” he snarled at her, his face turning red from his exertion under the weight on top of him.

“I know, that’s why I have to do this” she said, and raised her fingers to his temple, and knocked him out, her eyes locked on his till the last, the urgent golden brown of his stare seared into her memory.

He relaxed to the floor, and she stood. She should kill him, and do everyone in Ventrios Prime a favour, she knew it. Yet, because of his haunted words, and his forbidden books, and the little voice of questioning that had sprung alive in her mind, she knew she couldn’t.

She had done it, she was free, it seemed unreal. Now, she just had to get out of the Tower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! 
> 
> I hate characters listening in on conversations and hearing the exact relevant bit... however in the interests of speeding things along, I'm going for it! 
> 
> This story is just meant to be for fun, so it's not as edited, rewritten and changed, as TBW, however, I do have a very clear idea of where we are going, and all the things that are going to happen along the way... so hopefully its an entertaining if a bit cracky ride. 
> 
> Anyway, hope you're enjoying it! Let me know what you think xoxo


	8. Chapter 8

The lock on the door took several long minutes of intense concentration to unravel all the force bindings Kylo had locked it with. She was hyper aware of him lying near her, unconscious, and knew each minute she wasted there, was another she lost from her escape, before he woke, and pursued. Finally, the door slid open, and she cast a last glance at the man who had locked her up for weeks, hardened her heart, and stepped out into the dimly lit corridor.

Rey crept along the sloping hallway, heading upwards. There was no sound, at the late hour, but she knew they would be sentries, guards of some kind. She slammed her force blocking into place, turning her scent into the beta she had always pretended to be.

The hallways of the Tower rose higher and higher around her, intricate stonework, melded with the latest generation of tech. Ventrios Prime’s lights twinkled in patches through the windows, nothing like night time in the city used to be. Power shortages, Rey guessed, as she rounded a corridor, feeling before her with the force and finally discovering the signature of two life forms.

They were pacing, a short patrol, at an intersection of the corridors. She hid as close as she dared, and tried to peek around the corner. The two men were walking in near silence. One turned her way, a fraction of a second, and frowned, continuing his path.

“Do you smell that?” he asked, the question hollowing out a pit in Rey’s stomach.

“What?”

“That – like… something… I don’t know” he rumbled, rubbing a hand over his chest. He stopped and turned fully toward the place where Rey hid. She frantically checked her force blocks. They were intact, they should be working, just like always.

“You can’t leave your post” the other man protested as the first took a slow step toward her.

“I have to see what it is” he said quietly. She stepped back, gathering the force to her. She had no other weapon, no other way to defend herself, all she could hope was that she didn’t kill him.

He walked toward her, and Rey felt time slow down as he approached. He turned the corner, and found her, with nowhere to hide, she simply stood there, waiting. His eyes went wide, his nostrils flaring, as he stopped in his tracks.

“Omega – “ he gasped, but made no move to come closer. In fact he seemed more afraid of her than she was of him.

“What?” his friend called, his voice coming closer. Rey had to act, whether he was attacking her or not, it wasn’t as if they would let her walk out of there. She stepped forward and clamped her hand down on his wrist, sending tendrils of the force racing up his arm. He cried out in pain, but didn’t fall. She gripped harder, until his eyes rolled back and he slumped to the floor.

“Maker!” his friend cried, as he rounded the corner and saw the scene. Her standing over his fallen friend, power crackling over her hands. He turned and started to run back the way he had come. She threw up her hand toward him, and let her power fly at him, hitting him in the back. He stumbled, and fell hard, the sound echoing in the hall.

“What do we have here?” a voice demanded from behind of her. In the fight, she had stopped monitoring for other signs of life. She turned to see the red-haired man, Hux, standing in the middle of the corridor, sneering at her, he had a blaster in his hand, pointed right at her.

“If it isn’t the feral little omega Kylo Ren is so fanatical about… you reek, by the way” he finished, his lip curling in disgust. Rey stared at him. How? It was impossible. She shouldn’t smell of anything but beta. Her confusion must have shown on her face, as Hux’s became goading.

“You don’t know? How interesting” he taunted.

“You know… you don’t have to go back to him. We could come to some sort of arrangement…” he continued, and Rey stiffened, the force surging in her hands.

“He’s not the only alpha here… I am sure I could accommodate your needs” his words were carefully gentle, but the veneer was thin and Rey could easily distinguish the cruel desire in Hux’s eyes.

“He should have claimed you by now… what a weakness, to have wandering around, escaping…” he murmured, stepping closer. It was a weakness, Rey saw suddenly. Why he hadn’t, the consideration behind the gesture turned Rey’s heart over in her chest. A bundle of buzzing contradiction. Her emotion must have been plain to see, for Hux’s face hardened at the sight.

“You can go back to him, when I’m done with you” he said menacingly.

“You think Kylo Ren would let that stand? You think you wouldn’t be dead for touching me?”

“Awfully confident considering you are busy trying to evade him… how do you know he won’t punish you for escaping. Hurt you, kill you even?” Hux challenged back. Rey didn’t answer, but in her heart she knew he wouldn’t. She would prefer being returned to Kylo than taken defenceless by Hux any day.

Hux had watched her feelings play across her features, and anger froze his expression.

“You stupid bitch.. you’re already his, aren’t you?” he sneered, and raised the blaster again. The bolt shot out, toward her, streaking across the distance between them, and once again, Rey saw everything happening slowly, and all at once. She raised her hand, and without even realising what she was doing, froze the bolt mid-flight. She stared at it, shocked, before realising Hux was moving in behind it. She unfroze it, sending it backwards, and it hit him in the leg. He fell, crying out loudly. She picked his blaster up quickly, and stepped over him as he writhed pitifully on the floor.  

His pitiful shouts were going to attract attention, she knew, backing away, already running in the direction she had been aiming for, the blaster held tightly.

 

Her mind was reeling, an endless pit of questions that had to be answered, but now, she needed clarity. She had to get away. Her blocking wasn’t working, for some reason, she had to acknowledge that. It changed her plans. She could no longer hid in the streets, blending in with other citizens until she could contact this resistance.

She had to hid, and reassess, and there was only one place she knew of to do that. One place that was her territory. The Vaults. She had to go home.

 

 

Rey splashed along the bottom of a stinking, sewer, using the smallest amount of the force to light her way.

Getting away from the Tower had taken hours of hiding, force manipulation, and had left several more wounded. But she had managed it. Though, she was sure the things she had seen before she managed to get away would haunt her forever. There was a hanging block, constructed right in the gardens, with a space for viewing, a huge banner of the First Order hanging over it. Four male bodies had swung in the night air, as she had crept past. There had been wagons piled with bodies, and the empty eyes of a woman had watched Rey, as she had hidden near it, waiting for the patrol to pass. She didn’t need to ask where they were going, she could smell it. It seemed the First Order were rounding the bodies of the dead up and burning them. The black smoke clogged the air, even at night. So much death and senseless destruction, while she had bathed and eaten roasted meat, read books, and chatted with the man responsible. She had escaped with her heart torn in two.

 

She had been in a state of shock when she’d reached the Vaults, the old system of abandoned buildings, and underground tunnels that functioned as the underground of Ventrios Prime, where she had scavenged and survived as an orphan.

She had retreated to the sewers, the fear of her scent being recognised driving her deeper and deeper into the filth.

She couldn’t know for sure what had happened to her, but she had a suspicion. Something in her unusual connection to Kylo Ren, something in their terrifying compatibility, had fundamentally changed her. Even without traditional alpha omega mating, it seemed their force connection had made her different. She had stopped the blaster bolt, something she had never been able to do, but Kylo could, she had seen it. And now, she smelled different. Her blocking, as it was, no longer functioned the same way. She had so many questions and no one to ask, except the presence that was growing in her head. That was the other inkling she had, that her connection to Kylo was far more powerful than she had expected.

She could feel when he woke up. She could feel his anger and frustration. He raged at in her head, his emotions so strong it was as though she could taste the embers of his anger in her mouth. After that great rage had passed, there was worry – fear. That was almost harder to bare. That the arrogant and murderous Kylo Ren might feel concern for her well-being, turned her stomach. She wondered then if he could feel her too. Her own fear and uncertainty. She couldn’t be sure, but supposed he might. She hoped he choked on it.  

She stayed down below, afraid to venture out, while experimenting with her blocking. Maybe she just needed to adapt her barriers, she thought determinedly.

She experimented as well as she could, venturing out for small periods of time, but was always driven away by someone smelling her. The state of the Vaults had changed little, and she couldn’t see the rest of the city, but she was sure there was trouble. There was a darkness afoot in the air, a sense of general desperation and madness that scared her.

She heard people talking of attacks on women and even more slightly built men, by alpha’s who were suddenly unconditioned and unmedicated for the first time in their lives. The perpetrators were hunted by First Order militia, and hung from the Tower, their bodies a warning to all who saw not to go against the teachings of their new leader.

 

She slept to conserve her energy, and worried on what to do. A week passed, and stretched into two, before her first break in bad luck came. During that time, the dreams started. At first, it was memories of her heat, where hormones had overwhelmed her, and frightened her with the intensity of her need. She whimpered in her sleep, propped against an old drain pipe, hands clenched on frozen thighs, desire running through her, and loneliness, crushing her in a relentless grip. And then, memories of him would come. His warm and reassuring presence, the heat of his skin, the confidence of his touch. It assured her desperate need. He wanted her, needed her, she was his. She woke calmed and ashamed of the comfort the mere memories of his thorough possession of her body inspired. She pushed the dreams from her mind during the days, where she ran and hid, worked on her force blocking, scavenged food and muddied, filtered water, a cupful a day, never enough to wash the dirt and fear from her mouth. She thought of going to the base, but knew it wasn’t a place where she might find the resistance, and she didn’t know how to go there while her scent was still so plainly omega.

She was pondering that very thing, one morning, when picking through an abandoned squat, keeping an eye on the door for anyone sneaking up on her, she had smelled it. A familiar and comforting scent. Non-threatening, beta, safe. Following her instincts, she had crept to the window of the shack, and peeked out.  

The alley was lowly lit, rubbish and debris littered the ground, and the sagging walls ran with dripping, stinking water.

At the end, there was a commotion. Several figures running. Rey could just make out a young girl, her eyes flashing in fear, her mouth drawn in a cry, as she hurtled down the path. Two men followed, unwashed, their cruel mouths frozen in snarls. They reached the girl, grabbing her roughly, making her fall heavily to the ground. Her piercing cry sending Rey to her feet. A whistle blew behind them, and suddenly, black clothed guards entered the fray. What followed was a sound beating, the gasps and grunts of the attackers fading, as sounds of flesh hitting flesh filled the alley, along with the soft cries of the woman, huddled in the corner. Rey was frozen with indecision. She wanted to comfort her, but couldn’t risk exposing herself.

Suddenly, the First Order men hauled the two attackers away, and new shadows approached the weeping woman. Rey gripped the ledge and prepared herself to act, no matter what, and then, the smell that had first sent her to the window wound through her consciousness.

Beta, safety…familiarity – Poe, her mind supplied quickly, as sshe wrapped the stinking rags she had painstakingly gathered around her and crept in the direction of the smell.

The alley outside seemed deserted now, save two bending figures and the prostrate woman, as she approached, she could make out the familiar shape hunching. Her heart in her throat, knowing she risked much, but unable to do anything to change it, she had started for him.

Each step along the exposed ground felt like she had a target on her back, her palms sweated in the cold, she knew her smell must have been ripe, but she pushed on. When she was closer, she could see he was huddled with another man, both talking in low, urgent tones. At the sight of the other man, she stiffened, ready to run, when Poe turned and saw her, his warm chocolate eyes widening in surprise.

“Niima?” he gasped, as she took a hesitant step back, unable to see the shadowy man who stood in the darkness. His scent came to her, bit by bit, and it was odd. He was a beta, but strange and unfamiliar. She had never smelled anything like it.

“Rey, is that really you?” Poe was saying, stepping toward her, and before she could do anything else, he had swept her up in his arms, and hugged her tightly to him.

“I thought you were dead at first… and now… well, I didn’t know what to think-“ Poe was saying cryptically. He pulled back from her, and she saw his nostrils flare as he took her in, a look of wonder passing his features. She simply stared up at him, knowing he was realising her secret, that she had been lying all along. She waited for his judgement and condemnation. His expression of confusion slowly passed, and melted into one of heartrending concern, and something else that made Rey swallow hard. It looked like compassion.

“That explains so much” he said quietly, running a thumb under her eye, where she hadn’t realised a tear had fallen.

“You’re safe with me, Rey. You’re safe now. He cannot get you anymore” Poe said, as Rey died inside at his words.

“How did you -?” she started, and Poe shook his head sadly.   
“Everyone knows. He has made no secret of it.” He said. Poe watched her a moment longer, and then turned to look around, worry lighting his eyes.

“We should move, we have to get somewhere safer than this” He saw her hesitant look toward his companion.

“Skywalker is safe as well, don’t worry. We have to get you out of the open. How long have you been here?” he said, taking her hand in his.

“Two weeks, I think? I’m not sure” she said, as they started along the alley, keeping to the shadows.

“Thank the maker you found us, it was only a matter of time…” Poe muttered darkly. Seeing Rey’s confusion, he relented.

“-Until he found you… Kylo Ren is looking for you, he has half the city hunting you. First Order, and civilians alike. He offers great reward for information about you, or more still, for your return, unharmed.” The words stilled Rey in her tracks. Poe gave her moment, and then tugged her on. The man Poe called Skywalker was watching her curiously. He had a perturbingly direct stare, as though he could see into her very soul. His lined face had a bread, trimmed and neatly kept. It was a pleasant face, though now, as he watched her, she couldn’t imagine it smiling.

“We shouldn’t linger. Can you do something about your scent?” he asked, and Rey was too overwhelmed to even wonder how he knew anything about force blocking. She shook her head.

“I’ve tried… nothing works, I don’t know why”

“Did he… bond with you?” Skywalker suddenly asked, the very first thing he had said. Rey glanced back at him, where he was following behind, a slight, dark shadow.

“No, he hasn’t.”

“Do you feel him in the force?” he pressed on. Rey nodded slowly.

“Yes, I feel his emotions, anger… pain.”

“Can you feel more? Could you tell us where he is?” Poe pressed.

“I don’t know, I’m afraid to try, in case he sees me too”

“Don’t try… in that case, just shut him out. You have a force bond….” Skywalker said, an edge of wonder colouring his words.

“What’s that and how do I get rid of it” Rey asked desperately, as she followed the men down into the very sewers she had come from.

“I can’t be sure… it’s the stuff of legend, I didn’t know it was possible. But if it is true… it is very dangerous. You are very dangerous” Skywalker said. Rey tasted blood in her mouth, as she bit down, wondering if this was the moment where Poe would tell her she couldn’t come with them. They stopped in a dark tunnel, and she could feel the weight of their stares.

“You should leave me here then, if I endanger the mission” she found the courage to say.

“No, Rey, you mistake me. You are very dangerous - to Kylo Ren” Skywalker said. She stared back at him a long moment. Poe broke out in a smile.

“That’s just the news we needed…” Poe said, and took her hand, pulling her toward a grate in the ground.

“I know all this is a lot, I promise, I’ll explain everything I can. Let’s just get to safety. Do you trust me?” Poe said, holding up a hand to help her underground. Rey nodded quickly, completely sure in her response. She took his hand.

 

 

The resistance base was nothing like she’d imagined. She had been hustled through a back door, and put into a cell like room. It was an underground series of rooms, and she had gotten no more than the vaguest impression of the numbers of people following the cause, before she had been hidden away. She knew it was the safest solution, but it still rankled, to be shut in, so soon after her stay in the Tower.

“We need to keep your scent hidden. Not all alpha’s are adjusting to the new… regime.” Poe said heavily, watching her look around the tiny empty room, with a bed roll in the corner, and a toilet with a cracked bowl.

“What is this place?”

“Not sure, some kind of maintenance structure for the sewers maybe? We don’t know for sure, the holonet has been down ever since…” Rey nodded, not needed to hear the rest.

“Holdo is going to want to see you, as soon as she gets back” Poe said, watching Rey walk the confines of the room. They stared at each other in silence for a long moment.

“What’s happening out there?” she finally asked, afraid to know the answer.

“Anarchy… the total breakdown of civilisation as we know it” Poe returned weakly.   
“There were people  - hanging from the Tower”

“Alphas… alphas unable to control their instincts, like those this evening. No doubt they will hang this evening. They stopped the medication, no conditioning. First Order teaches that alphas should control their instincts – and if they don’t, they will answer to them”

Rey let out a bitter laugh at his words. Kylo Ren had hardly controlled his instincts when he came into contact with an omega.

“Those men were rapists, murderers, but driven to it, because of the First Order” Poe continued.

“Women are suffering, afraid, they have started to look to the First Order for protection” Poe said incredulously, his scorn clear on his face.

“First Order are medicated?”

“No – the alpha’s of the barrens aren’t, and I don’t think they have been for a long time. They have some sort of organisation and hierarchy. Fear keeps them in line” Poe said. Rey pondered the strange predicament of the women of Ventrios Prime.

“Don’t judge them too harshly.” She said finally, thinking of her mother, and the fear she had felt watching an enraged alpha tear her apart. Even though she couldn’t remember the man, his face, or even the slightest feature of him, she had felt instinctively that it was what true madness looked like.

“They just want to live” she said finally, realising she was explaining much more than the women of Ventrios Prime. Poe nodded slowly at her, giving her a sad smile.

“You should rest… I’ll come and wake you when Holdo gets back, and I’ll be outside the whole time, in case – “

“Thank you, Captain” she said, sudden, pressing tiredness making her feel faint.  

“I told you before… its Poe, Niima. Get some sleep. That’s an order”

 

She fell quickly into a deep sleep, and dreamed. She had come to welcome the familiarity of her dreams of her heat, finding comfort in her memories of Kylo Ren, as much as it shamed her. It was human contact, a port in the storm, and no matter what else, he had been an alpha, _the_ alpha, and her omega practically purred around him.

This dream was different, however. She was in her bed in the Tower, locked in her gilded cage. A warm hand caressed her cheek, and slid into her hair.

“Rey, are you alright?” his voice was a soft murmur in her ear. She shook her head, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. This was no memory.

“Is this a dream?” she muttered to him.

“Do you want it to be? Do you dream of me, Rey?” his warm voice murmured.

“No” she said immediately. He chuckled, the sound a low vibration.

“Liar” he said softly. She dared to open her eyes, and found him, lying beside her, leaning up on an elbow and looking down at her. His eyes ran over her face as if he was drinking her in, as though his thirst for her had been a physical pain, and only now, in his presence, could it be soothed. She thought for a moment, how strange it was that he was so calm, steady almost. He studied her back.

“I’m not calm. I’m not steady” he murmured softly, and before she could ask him about it, he continued.

“I’m furious, and determined. I am working to find you, with every breath, and I will. It’s only a matter of time, and then, we will decide your punishment for running.”

“You would punish me for running for my life?” she challenged, oddly unafraid of him here, like this.

“You know I would never hurt you. You ran because you are afraid”

“Of you”

“No – of yourself. Of our connection”

“You’re still insane, I see” she sneered, his quiet conviction irritating her.

“And you are still in denial” he said. She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. She wondered where all these tears were coming from, she had been a girl who had seldom cried and a woman who rarely allowed herself to wallow in any emotion.

“What’s wrong?” he said, his voice becoming more concerned.

“You are killing people, hanging them in the streets-“ she said truthfully. She hadn’t been able to get the image of those hanging bodies out her mind. There was something so cold about it. Killing in combat was one thing, but the hanging was execution, and it frightened her more than anything.

“Bad people”

“You the worst person I’ve ever met”

“Then you’ve led a sheltered life” he said, his knuckles grazing down her side.

“People are afraid”

“Change is frightening”

“I’m afraid” she couldn’t stop herself from saying. It was true, she realised, deep inside. She was so alone, and terrified, she couldn’t prevent that feeling from bubbling over.

“Then come home”

“The Tower is not my home” she argued.

“Home isn’t always a place, it could be a person” he said quietly. Her traitorous heart thumped hard at his words.

“I hate you – most of all” she confessed. She didn’t say that she wasn’t quite sure what she hated him for. Destroying her life, hurting innocent people, attempting to change a system with bloodshed and violence. These were all hateable offences. For making her see, even just for a glimmer of a moment that he might have a point – she couldn’t forgive him for that.

He was quiet then for a long moment.

“Where are you Rey? You must have realised by now… you cannot pass as the beta you used to” he said gently.

“You knew? Of course, you knew” her words were bitter.

“You must be hiding somewhere, somewhere familiar, where you can mask yourself, your scent. You must be hungry…”

“I’ve been hungrier”

“You must feel lonely”

“I’ve been lonelier”

“You won’t last long this way, sweetheart”

“I’ve survived worse… I’ve survived you” she said, rising from the dream to find herself dozing upright against the stained wall, the bedroll forgotten beside her. She jerked awake to find the door opening, and the dark head of Poe ducking into the room.

“Rey? Holdo is back. She wants to see you. If you don’t mind, she’ll come here, probably better not to spread your scent around” he said, and she felt a strange sort of shame in the burden her designation had made her. She nodded guiltily.

Her former CO must have been waiting just outside, as she quickly entered the room, and Rey noted the man Poe had called Skywalker came in too, closing the door behind him.

“Officer Niima, I am happy to see you alive, if not unscathed” Holdo said, and Rey immediately flushed red. She knew what they were all thinking. They knew she was an omega, and they knew that Kylo Ren had had her. They must know what had happened.

“How are you feeling?” Holdo went on to ask briskly. Rey shrugged.

“I’m fine… I suppose I am fine” she said quietly, feeling the scrutiny of every person in the room, and unbearable weight of their judgement. Holdo looked long and hard at her, before surprising her. She stepped closer and reached a tentative hand out to lie on top of Rey’s.

“Not all wounds leave a mark, and not all trauma can be seen. You have suffered, Rey. Whatever happened to you at the hands of Kylo Ren… you were a victim… you have suffered, and nobody could doubt it” her words brought fresh tears to Rey’s eyes.

“Why did he not claim you?” Skywalker’s voice came from across the room, and Holdo shot him a quelling look, but the older man advanced, his eyes fixed on Rey. His gaze held no accusation, only a sort of curiosity, that seemed to seep into her soul.

“I don’t know”

“Don’t you? Why did he not kill you?” the man pressed on. Rey shook her head, helpless to answer the questions she wondered herself. Poe shifted closer to her, a protective gesture that had Skywalker sending him an almost amused glance.

“I don’t know. I don’t know what he wanted from me” She said adamantly, forcing Kylo Ren’s strong, unique voice from her mind.

“Partly true, but you know something, something you are afraid to tell us. You don’t need to be afraid Rey. You are among friends here” Skywalker said. Rey shrugged. After a long moment, she tried to drag the words out of her dark, secret place.

“I think – I think he is lonely” she let out a feeble, disbelieving laugh at her our words, marvelling at their oddness.

“I think he is looking for a connection to someone…”

“He found it in you. In a force bond that is so rare, I have never met two people who shared one” Skywalker said, coming closer and sitting on the edge of her bed. She didn’t feel threatened by him, his presence was soothing.

“You are precious to him Rey. He didn’t want to hurt you, he didn’t want to – force you-“

“Luke – I don’t think now is the time-“ Holdo broke in.

“There is no other time, we need to understand what is going on in his head”

“He’s a lunatic and a fanatic – it’s impossible to understand what is going on in his head” Poe muttered, and Rey found her head shaking. Skywalker looked to her, and held a hand up to stop Poe.

“He’s not – mad. He’s not insane. He is smart, terrifyingly so, and driven, and passionate about what he believes. To hear him talk… it almost – moves you, for a moment” Rey said, her cheeks reddening as she admitted to how very much Kylo Ren’s heartfelt words had reached her. Skywalker was nodding, but Poe crossed his arms over his chest angrily.

“You were his prisoner Rey, he abused you, hurt you, and then showed you kindness…. Have no doubt it was strategic. It’s normal to feel confused…” Rey felt herself start to protest, but bit her tongue. She wouldn’t argue to convince them of anything else, even thinking Poe was wrong was a betrayal of everything she knew.

Holdo and Poe started to talk between each other, and Rey looked up to find kind blue eyes trained on her with frightening clarity. She felt for a moment, he was seeing far inside her, at her own loneliness, her own fear and weakness. That he could see her childhood, and knew her future.

“Rey – you must be tired, and need rest. I think this was enough, for today. I have brought you some special soap, with pheromone blockers, but you shouldn’t need to feel afraid here. Our alpha’s will conduct themselves with dignity” Holdo held out a package, wrapped in a dated looking wrapper. Rey stared at it.

“You’re too young to have ever used it before, but it used to be popular, when I was a child.” Holdo said.

Rey raised it to her nose and smelled it, jerking it away, and staring at the people watching her.

“What is it Rey?” Luke asked gently. Rey swallowed a large lump in her throat.

“It smells like my mother” she said quietly, cradling the soap in her hands, close to her chest. Luke gave her a smile.

“It’s a relic, just like me, from a simpler time, before medication and conditioning… where alphas were expected to control themselves, through sheer force of will. When biology was not the only measure of a person” he said, as he stood up, and the rest made to leave her. He sounded as though he missed that time, a wistfulness to his tone suddenly reminding her of someone else.

“Isn’t that what Kylo Ren wants?” Rey called to Luke, the last to leave through the door. The older man stopped and considered, nodding slowly.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Rey. I believe we have much to talk about” he said, before closing the door, and leaving her alone once more.


	9. Chapter 9

 

The next morning, Poe came to take her from her room to the shared spaces, and she ate breakfast with him, rations rehydrated with water. Nothing had ever tasted so good.

The base was half full, Rey observed, though Poe told her that there were people out on recon, so the numbers were usually higher. She saw a few faces she recognised from her old base, but no one approached to speak to her, though several waved.

“Don’t take it personally. No one is really in the chatting mood around here” Poe said, as Rey tried hard to keep her expression neutral. She shrugged. Poe suddenly raised an arm, and waved to a slight man walking past.

“Mitaka, some and say hi” he called, his voice injected with false cheerfulness. Rey wondered why he had singled out this man to force her company on, but, as he approached, and his scent hit her, she realised why.

“Hello, Dameron” the man introduced as Mitaka said quietly, his dark eyes darting to Rey and back to Poe. He was an omega. A male omega was ever rarer than a female, and Rey breathed deeply his scent.

“Dopheld, this is Rey” Poe said, nodding to her, and she smiled tentatively up at the man standing over them. Dopheld nodded solemnly, a strange look in his eye.

“Nice to meet you, Rey” he said, in that same, gentle tone.

“Nice to meet you too” she said. Poe looked around the room, and suddenly stood.

“Dopheld, do me a favour, and keep Rey company a minute, I just need to check in with Snap” he said, and flashed her the patented Dameron grin. Dopheld stood stiffly at Rey’s side, Poe having left without giving the man a chance to refuse.

“You don’t have to babysit me… really, I’m ok” Rey joked, and Dopheld seemed to jerk out of his reverie, and slid into the chair opposite.

“It’s fine, really. How are you settling in?” he asked, and Rey relaxed back, curious about the man in front of her.

“Well enough, it’s not been long. How is it? Being an omega here?” she asked, unable to contain the question. Dopheld seemed unsurprised by the question.

“It’s alright. People here are decent… not like on the outside. You shouldn’t go out there alone, if you can help it” he said, chewing on his lip, a nervous habit it seemed.

“How did you manage out there alone before this?” she asked quietly, glancing around to check no one was listening. Dopheld’s thin lips twisted in the approximation of a smile.

“I hid… scavenged… survived.”

“You aren’t a force user?”

“No. I imagine my life would have been very different if I had been. I didn’t even know masking a designation was possible until –“ he trailed off, his gaze switching to some place over her shoulder.

“Until what?” Rey pressed. Dopheld looked back at her, seeming to catch himself. His mouth clicked shut with an audible snap.

“Until I came here” he finished, but something in her gut told her that hadn’t been what he was going to say. She stared at him, a feeling of unease prickling over her skin. He was so familiar, and yet, she was also sure he was a stranger. The force niggled at her, and she tried to ignore it and focus on his softly spoken words.

“What was it like? In the Tower?” he asked, shifting nervously in his seat. Rey was surprised by the question. No one else had asked her so directly, and she wouldn’t have expected the shy man before her to be the first.

“It was – frightening… and confusing” she said honestly. He nodded slowly, taking in her words.

“Was Kylo Ren the only person you saw?” he asked. Rey pondered the question, and Dopheld must have taken her pause for offense.

“I just wonder how isolated he kept you… how you managed to escape, I just can’t imagine it. You must be really brave. Braver than me, that’s for sure, though I have yet to meet anyone who isn’t” he said, in a self-pitying tone.

“To be an omega in this world and still be standing, whole and of sound mind, means you must be brave” Rey said quietly.  Dopheld gave her a more genuine smile, but there was something sad about it, so sad, it made Rey’s heart tremble.

“That depends on how you define whole” he said, before looking up swiftly. Rey saw Poe bearing down on them.

“I should get back to work” Dopheld said, sliding from the chair, and disappearing into the crowd without a backwards glance.

“Make friends?” Poe said, as he took his seat. Rey shook her head.

“Not really”

“Well, don’t worry about it. Dopheld is sort of a funny duck. Loyal though” he said, picking up his now cold caf and pulling a face at the taste.

“What did he do before this?” Rey asked, her eyes finally losing the back of Mitaka’s head as he moved through the room.

“What did any of us do? Survived… lived… that’s all over now.” Poe muttered into his cup.

 

 

* * *

 

 

That night, Rey dreamt of blood and fire, twisting pain and a terrible darkness, one that seemed to breath and live, one that seemed to stay with her, long after she woke, bathed in sweat, her heart pounding, pain racing along her nerves. She pressed against the cot in her room, and steadied her breathing, letting the force rush in and calm her, and knew in that moment, that it was not her own feelings she was experiencing. They were Kylo’s. She should have felt triumphant, that her enemy was enduring such pain and torment, but she didn’t. There, alone, in that inky darkness, she could admit that, even just to herself.

 

The next morning, she had a surprise visitor. Luke appeared at her door, and held an arm out for her in an oddly old-fashioned gesture. She took it, and he drew them down a corridor, moving at a stately pace. She wondered a moment where he had come from, this man who Holdo treated as an equal, though Rey herself had never heard his name before.

“We go way back… before she was who she is now.” Luke said, perceiving her thoughts with startling clarity.

“It’s the force…” he said suddenly, seeing her shocked expression. Rey stopped still in her tracks.

“You – have the force?” she said, and he nodded, giving her a small smile.

“Indeed, though long gone are the days I advertise it. I used to be quite the force user in my day, when I was younger” he said, and Rey burned with curiosity.

“The hubris of youth” he said, with a fond smile.  

“You gave it up?”

“Not quite… I simply thought it best not to use it as much. It didn’t always bring out the best in me… or my family” he said, casting her a sidelong look. Rey braced herself for his coming question.

“Have you felt any further connection with Ren?” he asked. She walked on, her face perfectly neutral.

“In what way?”

“Feelings, dreams, anything really…”

“Last night, I think I felt his pain… a lot of pain, overwhelming amounts.” She admitted, and Luke’s hand tightened on her arm a moment, but otherwise he walked on unmoved.

“That must be difficult to endure… a man as tortured as him, I wouldn’t want to be in his head” Rey shrugged again, and turned her face from his intense scrutiny.

“I don’t really feel much from him… it’s muted somehow, I don’t know how to explain it.”

“How much training have you had in using your abilities?” Luke asked.

“None at all, my mother was a force using omega. She died before I presented, or felt any kind of power. I have had no teacher, and have hidden it most of my life”

“Of course, it is admirable you avoided detection so long, you must be powerful”

“I don’t know how powerful I am. Kylo Ren knew instantly”

“Not a reflection on your power, only of your connection to him. It is testament to your strength that a force bond has been formed between you both. Kylo Ren is the strongest force user I have ever seen”

“You’ve met him?” Rey asked.

“A long time ago, he was just a boy” Luke said quietly, his tone guarded, and Rey changed the subject, allowing Luke his secrets.

“You said you once used the force often. Do you think you might be able to teach me?” she asked. Luke stopped and turned to look at her.

“What do you wish to learn?”

“Everything… something. I don’t know. I don’t even know enough to understand what I don’t know” Rey admitted.

“That is the start of great knowledge, the acceptance of how little we know. May I ask how you were able to block your omega scent so long?”

“I’m not sure, I just imagined myself a beta, imagined blocks, like strong walls caging the omega in, and it seemed to work”

“But not anymore…” Luke prompted. Rey shook her head.

“If I might suggest something, I believe with Ren’s cooperation, I believe you could once more mask your scent, if you wanted to”

“How?” Rey asked, ignoring the most obvious barrier to such an action, Kylo’s help.

“It is your force bond that is making your scent stronger and difficult to block. By meeting Kylo Ren, you have started down a path of… fate, shall we call it?”

“I’d really rather not”

“Very well, you have started a process where your body, force and physical combined, is leading you toward a merged state, with your other half-“ Rey wrapped her arms around her middle, and couldn’t help the scowl that came over her face, even as she checked around to make sure no one could hear.

“Please, don’t talk like that. If someone were to hear… you make him sound like my mate, chosen by destiny… and if I believed that, I don’t think I could find the will to go on” she said, with a lame smile, masking the tears she felt threaten the back of her eyes.

“How would you explain your connection with him?” Luke asked gently. She shrugged helplessly.

“A cosmic joke…bad luck… wrong place at the wrong time” she said. Luke’s blue eyes were too pitying, she couldn't meet them.

“You don’t really think that, do you, Rey?” he asked.

“I don’t know what to think, I’m tired of thinking, I’m tired of feeling. I just want to help the resistance, and bring the city back to order”

“And Kylo? Do you want to see him dead for his crimes?”

“It’s the right thing… he deserves it” she evaded, and her words did not fool Luke. He gave her a crooked smile.

“Maybe so, but that’s not what I asked. What do _you_ want to see happen to him?”

 

* * *

 

 

She hadn’t been able to answer Luke, had made an excuse and escaped his uncomfortable company. That night, she sat in the make shift mess hall, and shovelled tasteless rations down, thankful for the fuel. She had grown thinner in the last few weeks, her clothes loose, and felt like she needed to gather her strength for what was coming. She watched resistance members talking to each other, smiling, laughing even, sometimes. They were busy going on mission, bustling with purpose. She felt like a loose end, flapping in the wind, and everyone wished to see her disappear, be tied off and tidied up. There were glances now and then, and she wondered what everyone was thinking, about the reward on her head, about the reasons for Kylo Ren’s search for her, about her scent and designation.

“Rey?” a soft voice called to her, and she turned to find Dopheld standing by her side, hovering, in his shy and awkward way.

“I just wanted to check how you are? Settling in?” he asked, and Rey felt a real smile come to her lips. If anyone knew how she felt, it would be him.

“I’m ok, food and water, shelter… how can it be bad?” she said softly. Dopheld hovered a little longer.

“Would you like to join me?” she asked after a moment. He shook his head, his eyes darting about.

“No, I shouldn’t, can’t… I have things to finish up. I just wanted to see that you are well” he said, and as quickly as he had appeared, he slipped away.

 

That had been three nights ago, and Rey had hardly seen him or Luke since, as she had been sitting with Poe most evenings. Her former captain seemed to have noticed how lonely and isolated she was feeling, and be going out of his way to include her. She was beginning to feel as though she had swapped the Tower for another kind of imprisonment. Holdo wouldn’t approve her going on any missions, when Kylo Ren was so publicly seeking her, and of course, there was always the excuse of danger due to her scent, to justify keeping her inside. She didn’t know what was going on above, the city of Ventrios Prime a mystery to her, and she was beginning to feel a little unbalanced by the lack of light and fresh air. She hadn’t dreamed of Kylo since the last time, when she had felt his pain, and she felt as though she oddly missed the connection, a realisation she condemned herself for.

“Rey? Are you there?” Poe’s strong voice broke through her musings, and she turned to find him smiling at her, his dark eyes warm and alive.

“I’m sorry… I got distracted. Do you think Holdo might consider letting me come on the next scouting mission. I’m starting to get a little crazy down here” she confided, nothing she hadn’t been asking already, but Poe seemed to sense her frustration. His warm palm cupped her hand on the table.

“I know it’s hard, being shut down here, after all that happened… with that monster” he said, and she felt real sincerity in his voice. She gave him a weak smile.

“But, it’s for the best. Going out could compromise your safety… and if that isn’t enough to deter you, what if you were captured, and he got the location of the base out of you?”

“He wouldn’t be able to”

“I’ve heard he can use the force to do whatever he wants” Poe grunted, drinking deeply from his caf cup.

“He wouldn’t be able to” Rey insisted stubbornly, unsure why exactly it felt so important that Poe realise she wasn’t defenceless around Kylo.

“And if he put that force collar on you again… what then? Look, I don’t want to upset you, I know it’s awful, and I’m sorry. I just want you to be realistic. You’d endanger us all, and I know that’s the last thing you’d want. Please, take care of yourself and be cautious, Rey. If I’d been more cautious with you, and never sent you on that mission… he’d never have gotten to you in the first place” Poe broke off bitterly. Rey was stunned to hear the guilt in his voice.

“You can’t really believe that? He may have come after me, but I’m the one who got caught, and I’m not blaming myself… I blame him. I was so – crippled – by what I had just done… I wasn’t myself” she said quietly, and the confession felt like a weight being lifted off her soul. Poe’s brow furrowed, and handsome jaw tight for a moment, and then relaxed.

“Taking lives is never easy, and it shouldn’t be. If it becomes easy, then, there is a problem. You followed orders, my orders, and because of what you did, out there in the city, there are people alive because of you and your actions. You made a difference, Rey.” He continued on.

“After all… we all just want to live” he reminded her of her words, about the women of Ventrios Prime. She let out a long breath.

“Fine, I will stop blaming myself, if you stop blaming yourself over my capture” she said. Poe thought about it a moment, before smiling, and sticking out his hand playfully to shake on it.

“Deal, Niima” he was saying, as a figure approached them, and cleared their throats nervously.

“Mitaka, my friend, what can we do you for?” Poe said, turning to see Dopheld hovering behind them, his eyes fixed on the table where Poe’s hand still gently rested against Rey’s.

“Holdo asked me to find you. She needs a word” Mitaka said, his eyes shifting left to right, in his usual way, something that Rey had started to find vaguely rodent like.

“Hello, Rey” Dopheld’s soft voice came to her, as they watched Poe leave.

“Hi” she answered, wondering not for the first time, why she found it difficult to relax around the omega. There was something off about him, but it was probably the fact that he had spent long periods of his life in isolation to protect himself, and lacked the skill to get on with new people.  

“Tea? I brewed too much” he said, holding a mug out to her. She took it, curling her hand around the ceramic warmth.

“Do you want to keep me company while I drink it?” Rey asked, hoping she was being polite. Dopheld was a difficult man to read. He sat awkwardly at the table and gave her a short smile. She wondered wildly what she might talk about with him, when, luckily, he launched into conversation.

“I heard Skywalker mention something about the force… I assume you are a force user?” he said.

“Yes, I’ve had it since I presented. I don’t remember it any other way. The two things, being an omega and a force user have always seemed to go together for me. I’m lucky, I guess” she said. Dopheld nodded.

“Without that power… hiding, afraid, running, lying. This is the life of the omega in Ventrios Prime.”

“I grew up in the Vaults, before I presented. I saw more of the darkness in the world there than I ever want to again” Rey said, and Dopheld’s eyes sharpened on her a moment.

“Even more darkness than your imprisonment in the Tower?” he asked, and Rey was jarred by the question. She knew, of course, what the answer should be, but Dopheld saw her indecision on her face.

“There was fear, greater than I’ve ever known, and confusion and anger… but not hiding. For the first time, I was unhidden, in plain sight. It was a strange feeling.” She said.

“Secrets and lies and shadows, the life of an omega. To be free… is an intoxicating thing. I can relate. Has the cabin fever set in here, yet?” he asked. She nodded, before asking.

“Do you they keep you in too? For your ‘own safety?” she complained, knowing she was being unfair.

 “In a way… but not too much. I was talking about – another time”

“From before?” he nodded in agreement.

“Where would you hide, before?” she asked gently. He shrugged.

“Here and there, it didn’t really matter, didn’t work much, not for long, anyway”

“What do you mean?” Rey asked, shifting her empty cup in her hands, enjoying the warm feeling in her hands.

“I had no way to work legitimately, I’m afraid I had to beg, borrow or steal… not a life I was proud of” he said.

“Believe me, I can understand.” Rey murmured.

“Were you caught?” she asked, thinking about his cryptic comments before about imprisonment.

“Yes. I was, but let’s save that story for another evening” he said, surprising her with his abruptness. He pushed back from the table, and gave her a thin smile.

“I should go, thank you for the company” he said shortly. Rey raised her cup to him.

“Likewise, and the tea” she said, barely finishing before he was nodding and departing. A funny duck, Poe had called him, but the more Rey was seeing of him, the more Dopheld seemed to her, a haunted man.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The next day, she was allowed to sit in a briefing with Holdo and a select number of other resistance members, including Poe and Luke. She didn’t join in, just listened, grateful to be hearing something, anything, of the world outside. She knew it was Poe’s doing, and shot him a grateful smile, as she sat down to listen to the new order that had arrived in these short weeks. The FO had commandeered all bases and positions of power in the city. They had a lot of followers, with new ones joining every day. They had cut off the conditioning and medication for alphas abruptly, and this was what was causing the most trouble in the city. Snoke, the Prime Minister was still missing. Holdo wanted to find him, she thought that if he were alive, he could be a figure head that would lead the people to stand up against the FO, and unite. Rey said nothing. She didn’t know what to make of the plan. It seemed futile, useless even. FO were changing the minds of people, and that was more dangerous than anything. She tried to imagine what it would be like to go back to alpha conditioning, now that they had been free and couldn’t picture it. No matter what happened in the future, Kylo Ren had changed the course of Ventrios Prime’s future, and nothing could undo it.

 

Her frustration turned into pacing in her room, back and forth, like a caged animal. She couldn’t help her room in the Tower from coming to mind. She knew as little now as she did then, she through bitterly, and had the same amounts of freedoms.

“Missing me, little one?” Kylo’s voice rumbled in her head, and she stopped stone still in the middle off the room. In her agitation she had let her mental barriers dip a little, and he had rushed in. He couldn’t see much, just feel her frustration and anxiety. This was the first time he had spoken to her outside a dream.

“Our connection grows, Rey, you won’t be able to fight it much longer” his voice was silky, a whispered threat.

“Get out my head” she said woodenly, shutting her eyes tightly, in case, somehow, he was able to see what she could.

“When I find you, which I am mere days away from… I will be more than just inside your head, sweetheart” his voice became rougher as he spoke, and she felt his emotions, a heavy, spiky anger, flowing along the bond to her. It filled her mouth up, and closed her throat.

“I’ll be inside you so deep, you won’t know where you end and I begin.” He growled, and she shuddered at the promise in his tone. She felt for a moment, she could feel the ghost of a hand on the back of her neck, a flash of hot breath on her mating gland.

“You have tried my patience too long, little omega, running around, playing rebel, allowing liberties to others, things that belong to me” his final words were a roar, and sent Rey to her feet. She looked wildly around the room.  
“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about your captain, and your ill-advised affection for him. He’ll be hanging outside before this week is through. I’ll make sure you can see it from your new rooms”

“Stop it” she muttered, wrapping her arms around her middle and doubling over.

“You do not command me. It looks like you’ve forgotten that… but I will enjoy reminding you” Rey swallowed down the fear rising in her throat, cloying and thick.

“I tried to be kind, I tried to be merciful, but this is how you’ve repaid me. You think me a monster, Rey, very well, I will be a monster. You call my protection and consideration – imprisonment, then I will be your jailer” he was so angry, every word sank like a spike into her skin, and she slid down against the wall, finding no words to fight back.

She did the only thing she could, threw up her mental shields, and reduced Kylo’s anger to a dull and distant buzzing in her head. Her heart was beating hard, palms slick with sweat, and she had to sit and balance herself, careful breaths and reminders that he was not there, he was bluffing, she was safe.

That night she couldn’t sleep. She left her rooms, and went to the mess hall. The base was full of shadows and she found herself jumping at her own reflection in a mirrored door. She wondered a moment where Kylo was, and what he was doing. Who he was with. She poured hot water into a mug, dunked a tea bag in, and stared down at it, as the clear water slowly changed dark brown. Kylo thought she had formed an attachment to Poe. The fact that he was getting anything through their bond, enough to know who she was spending time with, was frightening. It was only a matter of time until he would know where she was too. Poe was right, she was a danger to all of them. She shouldn’t stay, but how could she leave? She was a burden, one that would bring everything down on the brave men and women who were risking their lives to try and restore freedom to the people of the city. She drank her tea, and thought, watching lights blinking on the machines lining the room, and chewed her thumb nail. She was so tired of running, so tired of fighting, and yet, she couldn’t be the reason more innocent people got hurt. Kylo Ren was unstable, mad with jealousy it seemed, and she was afraid of what he would do when he knew where she was.

She was up and moving back to her rooms before she could second guess herself. She packed few things, preferring to be light on her feet and unencumbered.

She crept out while all in the base still slumbered, and started to make her way through the various doors and tunnels that she had entered through.

Holdo and Luke would be angry, disappointed perhaps, and Poe, he would be hurt. But it was for the best, she reminded herself. She needed to get lost, to disappear, so when Kylo could see her, she would be alone. What she would do then, she would have to decide. She thought back to her old training, the mission above all else. She would take the location of the rebels to her grave, she thought determinedly, whether that be tomorrow or long from now.

She neared the tunnel that lead to the Vaults, the smell of the sewage covered access hatch already seeping into her nose. As she neared, only the small light of her torch breaking the darkness, she heard the sound of a shoe scuffing, too close to her, and froze. The force flooded into her fingertips, her body ready to defend herself, as she turned around and peered into the shadowy corner.

“Rey?” Dopheld’s voice was wavering, disbelieving, and she finally made him out, standing near the ladder that accessed the door, staring at her in shock.

“Yes, it’s just me” she said, stepping out the darkness, and closer to the light from the hatch.

“What are you doing down here?” he asked, his eyes dropping over her clothes and bag.

“You’re running?”

“I can’t stay. He’ll find me here, as long as I am here, no one is safe” she said, Dopheld just stared at her.

“Are you returning to him?”

“What? No, of course not. I just have to get away, disappear… somewhere he won’t look, or something – until he loses patience with me, and gives up”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon, if ever” Dopheld said, in a strangled voice.

“Please… don’t tell anyone you saw me, or which direction I went in. I don’t want Poe doing anything stupidly heroic and brave. Not for me” Rey said, watching as Dopheld stepped closer.

“It’s too dangerous out there for you, Rey. You can’t hide your scent… going out there is a death sentence” he said, his quiet voice escalating with panic.

“Don’t worry about me, I can take care of myself”

“No – not in this new world, it’s too dangerous. He would never forgive me” Dopheld was muttering now, rooting through the pack he carried. Rey frowned as she tried to make sense of his words. She stepped closer, and Dopheld looked wildly up at her.

“Who wouldn’t? Poe?” she asked, as Dopheld fumbled with his bag and dropped it. She bent down to help him pick up the escaped items from the open zip. She slowly became aware that Dopheld was not kneeling beside her, but standing over her. She looked up, and caught sight of his face, a picture of regret.

“I’m sorry, Rey. I’m so sorry…” he said, and then, faster than she could make out, a needle pierced her neck, and darkness rushed in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all!
> 
> I'm alive!!! Brought back to life by the amazing trailer and 'better than I could have hoped for' title reveals, and all this canon goodness)) Thank you so much for your comments on the last chapter, comforting to know that you guys are still reading. 
> 
> I have no intention of abandoning this story, so don't worry. I will definitely be finishing this and The Beast Within too!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING - for scenes of graphic violence and sexual assault/attempted rape/rape 
> 
> Please don't read if it would upset you - for those wishing to avoid read until: "She knew who it was he was speaking to" and then jump to "The smell of bacta..."

She woke slowly, a piecemeal collection of consciousness, gradually dissolving into wakefulness. Her feet dragging along the ground, wiry arms banded around her middle, the harsh wheeze of pained breath. She jolted, as she remembered everything all at once, and even as the cool night air rushed in and the lights of the city sparkled in the distance, she tried to rip herself from the strong grip around her, and couldn’t. There was a familiar, cold weight around her neck that made her want to scream. The collar. She could feel the force, but it was distant from her, behind a wall that she couldn’t breech. Her body wouldn’t respond either, she had no control, all she could do was observe. She tried to move her mouth, and managed an approximation of a sound, bringing the person who was dragging her, down what looked like a terrifyingly dark, dilapidated alley, to a stop.

“Rey? Are you awake?” Dopheld’s voice was higher than usual, he was afraid, his breath coming in paniced pants, his hands twisting sweatily on her middle.

“Just hold still, we just need some cover. They wont find us in here” he said, and Rey found the words anything but reassuring, as he laid her down to pull a sheet of metal from the building it was leaning on, revealing a dark crawl space.

“I’m sorry, I’m going to have to push you in” he muttered, as he started to slide her along the rough ground. Rey could have laughed at how ill fated her impromptu escape had been, if it wasn’t so terribly real. Dopheld struggled to push her into the hole he had uncovered, and she heard the sound of the metal being moved back over the space, shrouding her in darkness. After a moment, Dopheld appeared by her head, dragging her further into a small room, and putting his pack under her head, his plain face full of worry.

“Are you alright? It’s our scents… its too noticeable. We just have to wait it out, until he comes.” he said and Rey tried her best to make her mouth form the word no.

“I’m sorry Rey, I truly am. I don’t want to hurt you, and I never wanted to betray you… you are the only one of my – kind, I’ve ever met. I thought I had more time, to decide how to do it the best way, and then I saw you leaving tonight, and I just had to act. I’m sorry if I scared you” he said, and Rey wished she had feeling in her face so she might snort at that. She coaxed her lips into a shape, and slowly fed a word out.

“Why?” it didn’t sound a thing like her, but Dopheld seemed to understand. He sat on the floor near her and cradled his head in his hands. 

“I told you before I’d been imprisoned… well, I was, for most of my life. They sent me to the Barrens” he said, and Rey, even through her anger and hurt at being betrayed, felt the weight of that statement sink through her. An omega on the prison colony of alphas.

“It was a living hell. I tried to end my life, I tried every day, but I was too valuable… they wouldn’t let me just die, and it wasn’t just the prisoners.” he let out a bitter laugh, his eyes fixing far away at some invisible memory, and Rey was suddenly glad she could not see inside his head.

“It all changed… when he arrived.”

“Kylo Ren” Rey breathed, his name like an omen on her lips. A weight eased on Dopheld’s meek features at the very sound. He nodded.

“The worst ones, the irredeemable ones… he killed, early on. What’s another life sentence to a man condemned to death. After that, things started to be different. The men, even the ones who had grown up brutal, and knew no other way – they submitted to the new alpha. We became pack, and pack protects pack. They followed his rules. He made sure I was never used again. He saved me Rey.” There was an awe in Dopheld’s tone, a worship that turned Rey’s stomach, even as she could understand what might cause such blind devotion, deliverance from the hell Dopheld had endured.

“So, you see, even though I like you very much, I owe an allegiance much older than our friendship. You, I didn’t want to betray – him… I can’t. I owe him my life, too many times over” Suddenly, a slight scraping noise outside distracted him, and he turned, getting up to look out of a peep hole, and Rey focused on her body, on the slightest tingling she had started to feel in her legs. The sedative must be wearing off, she realised. If she could get free, she knew she could overpower Mitaka, even with the collar on. He settled back down beside her.

“He gave me my freedom, my family…” Dopheld was saying, his eyes sliding to Rey as he said it. Rey stared at him a long moment, and then suddenly, it made sense.

“Catherine” she managed. Dopheld flushed, a small smile on his face at the mention of her name. Catherine and her baby, Dopheld’s child. Suddenly, any resentment she felt toward him dropped away. She had heard that alpha females, as rare as they were, were able to procreate with omega men, as biology had designed, but both were so unusual, she hadn’t heard many examples of it happening.

“Please – don’t hate me. He won’t hurt you, even if he promises to. He can’t… you’re too important to him. I know you wont believe me, but he cares about you, Rey.”

“Don’t” she squeezed out and tried to turn her face away, indicating she didn’t want to hear anymore.

“When?” she asked, after a long moment, her heart pounding in her chest at the thought of seeing Kylo again, his rage at her still fresh in her mind. Maybe he had been gentle before, restrained. This time – she shuddered to think of how he could be, what he could do. After all, she was at his mercy, and he could take whatever he wanted. A clanking sound from the alley drew her attention, and Dopheld leapt back to the peep hole. Whatever he saw must have worried him, for he swore under his breath and turned around and fished a communicator from his sleeve. Speaking lowly into it, he gave coordinates, and a plea to hurry. She knew who he was speaking to.

“Hey man! Where did you go? We just want to play a little” a rough, taunting shout came from the alley way beyond their makeshift wall, far too close for comfort. Rey couldn’t even flinch, her body still unresponsive, but Dopheld cringed down and pulled out a blaster. The weapon shook in his hand.

“I’ll protect you, until Kylo gets here. I had to change the meeting place when I ran into these guys… but it won’t take him long to find us.” His voice was full of conviction. The metal wall shook a little.

“We can smell you… omega” another voice said, closer than ever. Dopheld stood, his hand shaking looking at Rey in torn indecision, and then, just like that, his face smoothed. He seemed resolved. He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

“They don’t know you’re here. I’ll hold them off” he said, and started backwards toward the crawl space he had entered through.

“No-“ the sound was slightly clearer, but not much, and there was nothing else Rey could do as Dopheld crawled out into the street. She clenched her fists at her side, as hard as she could, and felt her fingers curl a fraction, hardly an inch.

Outside the men had focused their attentions on Dopheld.

“Now, no need for weapons, we just want to introduce ourselves, get a little acquainted” another voice said, and Rey wondered wildly how any there were.

“Stay back” Dopheld shouted.

“Hey Frank, do you think it’s true… a male omega can take a knot just as well as a female, better even… tighter” they men laughed. There was a scuffling sound, and Dopheld cried out in pain, as the blaster went off. The sound reverbed in the small hiding space, and slightly dislodged the sheet metal concealing Rey.

“Wait, do you smell that? You don’t happen to have company?” one grunted, as they sound of the metal moving filled Rey’s ears.

“No!” Dopheld yelled, and then the sound of flesh meeting flesh cut off his cry abruptly. The alley filled with the sound of tearing clothes and grunting. Rey felt a tear slid down her cheek as gradually the night sky filled her vision, and a looming face appeared.

“What do we have here… jackpot boys” an alpha, broad as a tank filled her vision. He put his hands under her armpits, and dragged her out. Rey didn’t dare to look over at Dopheld, didn’t dare break the stare of the man standing over her. He leaned down, and ran a dirty finger over her cheek.

“Where have you been hiding, lovely?” he asked in a rasp.

“What’s wrong with her? She isn’t moving”

“Dead?”

“No, her eyes are open”

“So – what does it matter?” another man called, as a second man stepped over to see her. He breathed in, and visibly gasped.

“I’ve never smelled a real one before” the first man, Rey nicknamed him Tank for his brutal appearance, crouched low over her.

“Back off – I found her first. Wait your turn” he growled. Another tear slipped down her face as she heard frightening sounds coming from behind her, where Dopheld was.

“Go get warmed up with the male, and give me my time” Tank instructed and turned his attention back to her.

“What about First Order… it’s not allowed”

“Fuck First Order, they aren’t here” Tank said.

He smiled down at her, stroked her cheek again, which made nausea bubble in her stomach. His hands lowered to her jacket, and he started to pull the zipper down.

She became aware of everything at that moment. The moon, a ghostly galleon over the stranger’s shoulder, hung in a black sky. No stars to see tonight, they were hiding their faces from the brutality of people, and the things they do to each other. The ground was freezing beneath her, though she took it as a good sign, that she could feel that much. Rubbish and debris crinkled under her, and the man over her smelled disgusting.

Rank alpha pheromones, a stinking musk that turned her stomach. It seemed almost rancid to her. Nothing like the only other alpha who had ever touched her had smelled like. This man was not _he_ r alpha, and her body rejected his touch, rebelled against it by not even producing slick, as he ripped her shirt, and pawed her breasts. His hands were rough, but she could feel it, and she started to flex her fingers again, finding them a little more responsive.

“Come one, baby – you don’t have to pretend, I know omega’s love an alpha’s touch” Tank grunted as he tried to take her arms out her jacket. The material was tight, and he wasn’t gentle. After a moment of trying, he grew frustrated.

“Stupid bitch, cooperate and you might make it through the night” he grunted, tugging harder on her arm.

“I think she really can’t move-“

“No, she’s just trying to put me off, she's glaring daggers at me” he said, finally losing patience, and pulling hard.

The world went white a moment, as a dry snap sounded, and fire licked up her arm.

“Man, I think you broke-“

“Who cares? That’s not what I’m interested in” Tank said, having lost all patience, he started ripping her clothes off. Rey felt the overwhelming pain on her arm, up her shoulder and through her whole body. It burned, and all her confusion and pain and fear bubbling inside her like a torrent of fire. She was falling inside, down into oblivion, her mind desperate for an escape. In that madness within, as she lost awareness of the hands on her body, now moving to her the button of her trousers she heard it, like a cool breeze in a dusty desert.

_“Rey – little one”_ She had truly lived a sad life if Kylo Ren’s voice was the one she heard before dying.

_“You’re not dying. I won’t allow it”_

_“You have to fight, sweetheart… you must fight”_ She slowly started to realise that she wasn’t hallucinating. She was really talking to him. The bond. Somehow, despite the collar, she could still feel Kylo inside her head. Their bond had grown too deep to be denied, even by a force collar it seemed. She felt a vivid jolt of comfort then, that at least she wasn’t alone, as strange as it was to be comforted by him, the very reason she was in this mess. She pushed the images of the collar and drugs back at him. His rage and frustration came back to her.

_“But you can feel me? You can feel the force in me_?” he asked suddenly. She could she realised. His cool, refreshing force energy was close, not accessible, but there, lingering.

_“If I let you in, you can use it. Use it, Rey. Fight”_ he growled, and then, whatever barrier there had been to his energy dropped, and Rey felt that strong, pure energy fill her. It shot out of her in a wave, and Tank, now at her ankles, pulling her trousers off, leaving her bare and shivering on the floor, flew backwards against the wall. His friend who was watching fell too. The force in her burned away the sedative, and she pulled her injured arm to her chest, and slowly sat up, bracing herself on her uninjured arm. She looked to Dopheld, knowing the image would be seared in her mind forever, and sent another wave of energy toward him and his attacker. The man flew backwards and skittered across the ground, and Dopheld dropped to the ground.

“You’ll pay for that” Tank said, as he got up off the ground. His pants were already open, and his erection bulged out, his eyes were round, and he seemed like he might be going into a rut. He stepped toward her and she raised her hand toward him, hand wavering in the air. She didn’t know exactly what to do, or how, but she could feel Kylo in her head, feel his need for blood.

With their barriers down, she could feel him inside her like never before, like he was standing next to her, and all around her. It was a heady and terrifying feeling, to command so much power, to contain so much energy inside her.  The force focused in her fingers, and she saw them move together, jerking Tank off his feet and holding him in the air. The man must weight four times her weight, and yet, she sat on the ground, broken and bloody, holding his in mid air, with just her mind. That was the power of the force.

He gurgled, his hands going to his throat and ripping at the invisible weight there, pushing in on his windpipe. She closed her fingers more, and Kylo growled with approval in her head. There was a bloodlust there, deafening, inside her mind, a chant for pay back, to hurt them and make them pay, and she felt it almost overwhelm her, until a soft cough had her turning to Dopheld, to see him crawling toward her. He reached out his hand to her, touching her broken arm, tears running down his face, and all at once, her anger seeped away, and her connection to Kylo closed.

Tank fell to the ground, gasping for breath. The others looked afraid, staring at her as though she were some demon. He stood up, with aid, and turned an ugly snarl to her.

“Is that all you’ve got? Stupid bitch.”

“I’m not an executioner” was all she said, as the pain all over her body started to register. She felt exhausted and full of adrenaline all at once. She cradled Dopheld’s head on her knee, the fight going out of her. It was done.

“She doesn’t have to be” a low voice, full of promise of dark things, spoke from the shadows. The men turned, as a figure loomed large out the darkness.

“She has me” Kylo’s voice was rough with his anger, his face almost inhuman with rage, his skin pulled taut, his eyes flashing death. His eyes flickered to hers for a moment, one in which she saw a hundred emotions flash over his expressive eyes. He raised a blaster, and with shots faster than she could make out, he shot two of the men, clean between the eyes, leaving Tank standing alone. Kylo dropped the blaster, and took off his heavy leather jacket, revealing only a tight black t-shirt underneath. Tank was looking at his fallen friends in disbelief.

“That’s too good for you.” Kylo explained, as he started to walk slowly, almost arrogantly toward Tank.

“You – I’m going to rip you apart… with my bare hands” he smirked, deceptively casual, but Rey could see they hint of madness beneath his façade.

“You can try” Tank managed, before Kylo went for him. Rey hugged Dopheld closer, he was shaking on her legs. She barely watched the fight, she didn’t doubt the outcome. Her arm throbbed in pain, and she looked down to see what a mess it was, broken, and then thrown about. She thought she might pass out from the pain.

A gurgling sounded from the fight, and she turned to see Kylo pressing Tank into the wall, hands around his throat. Tank was turning purple, and Kylo was curiously detached, pale and intense as he made eye contact with the dying man.

“Oh, I forgot the ripping off part” he murmured, and then, his hand was lowering to Tank’s open trousers. Rey closed her eyes, and rested her head on Dopheld’s who had long since lost consciousness. She felt that oblivion beckoning, and allowed herself to fall. She felt safe, she realised, strangely. As wrong as it was, she felt safe now. To the sounds of horrified screams, she relaxed in blissful numbness.

 

* * *

 

 

The smell of bacta and the softness of an unfamiliar bed greeted her when she woke. She was in a place between sleep and waking, and she could hear the faintest murmur of voices. The last hours came back to her, and she closed her eyes again, willing herself to sleep longer, and put off facing what had happened, and where she was now.

“She needs rest, and time… time to adjust, and she needs the collar off to heal” a woman’s voice spoke, sharply, but motherly and in a more admonishing tone that she had ever heard addressed to Kylo.

“I’ve been trying to give her time. I tried before she ran away” his low rumble confirmed he was indeed the recipient of the older woman’s reprimands.

“But you couldn’t help yourself from pressing your attentions on her? She’s barely past being a child – an innocent as well”

“Her childhood matured her in ways you can’t fathom-“

“But not in intimacy, not in – love”

“She doesn’t love me, Maz. She never will. I will always be a monster to her” he said shortly. Silence followed his words.

“Not all mated pairs like each other, the mating bond cares not. It selects the best biological match for you, and you just have to hope you can get along. You can’t expect more from her than that. You might wish for it, feel it yourself, but she doesn’t owe you affection.”

“You don’t understand – what it is to be near her, and to hold back, to need something outside yourself, as you need air to breath” Kylo’s voice was full of supressed anger and frustration. His words shocked Rey.

“She hates me. She hates me so, that she would rather die at the hands of faceless others, ripped to death, than suffer me” his voice was thick with loathing. A long female sigh sounded.

“She doesn’t know you, Ben. Who does, anymore? She knows Kylo Ren… and she is afraid, rightly so”

“I would never hurt her”

“But she is hurt now – this is because of your actions. You lock her up, isolate her, terrify her with new sensations and feelings, startling intimacy to a stranger, and worst of all – you took the force from her”

“That was unavoidable – she is so powerful, there was other way to contain her”

“And therein lies the problem. A true mate is not someone to be contained. You must trust her, so she might begin to trust you”

“She’ll never stay without the collar, how can I get her to trust me, if she isn’t here”

“She’s your equal, Ben. Your partner, your balance – you have to find a new way” the old lady’s voice was low and saddening to hear.

“Don’t show her who you are now, show her who you were”  Kylo’s bitter laugh startled her.

“You sound like Luke.. or how I imagine he would sound”

“If you had gone home in 15 years, you’d know, I do a good Luke” Maz’s voice was a chuckle now.

“Ben’s gone Maz. He died, that night”

“He’s not gone, _you_ are not gone, Ben. You are fighting for your beliefs, not Snokes, and don’t ever forget that”

“Our beliefs are the same”

“You know in your heart that is no longer true… you know the darkness that thrives in him. He wants power, and doesn’t care about the fate of Ventrios Prime.”

“You’re wrong” Kylo said, his voice flat and emotionless. Maz sighed again, this time resigned.

“I pray your omega wakes soon. For her sake, maybe you will see. It is time for the apprentice to succeed the teacher – you don’t need him Ben, you only need her, and the truth in your heart”

“Enough!” Kylo growled, a warning in his tone that sent fear skittering through Rey.

“I won’t have treason spoken against him in my presence. Return to your hovel. Your visit was a waste, as usual. I don’t know why my mother valued your advice so much.” he said quietly, completely gone was the man who had spoken candidly only moments before.

“As you wish” Maz said tiredly.

“A last piece of advice? Listen, when you speak to her. Maybe she will give you the answers you need… if you just listen” the sound of a door shutting punctuated the statement, and then, there was silence. The conversation was too strange, too out of context to unravel. The only thing she knew for certain was that she didn’t want to talk to Kylo, see his face, after all that had been shared. She closed her eyes, and let the sleep drift back, the words of the conversation drifting around in her head.

 

__

* * *

 

 

When she woke next, she had the feeling that some time had passed. Her body felt better, less achy, and her arm was much improved, though she couldn’t see it, encased in some kind of small bacta tank. The room she was in was light and airy, a high ceiling and natural light flooded in.

“Rey?” a soft voice spoke, and she turned to see Catherine, a dark spectre in the pale room, sitting beside the bed.

“You’re awake, I’m so glad… how do you feel?” Catherine asked, as Rey got her first proper glimpse of her face. Her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, her blue eyes bloodshot.

“What’s wrong?” Rey asked immediately, a heavy feeling growing in her gut at the sight of Catherine’s hidden grief. Her shoulders hunched up around her ears.

“Nothing”

“Don’t lie to me, what is it? Did Dopheld… not make it?”

“No, he did… he’s hurt, but it’s nothing we haven’t dealt with before” Catherine said sadly.

“Then what’s wrong?” Catherine hesitated, her eyes darting toward the door and back.

“He – failed his mission.” She said finally, tears falling fresh from her eyes. The two women shared a long look, filled with their shared pain and sadness. Catherine shifted her hands to cup her belly, rounder than ever, and Rey thought about Dopheld’s child growing up without a father.

“Tell Kylo I need to see him. I want to talk” she said, slumping back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys! I hope you're enjoying it. This chapter is a little rough, but this is a forewarned dark story, where much of the problems in society with designations is to do with sexual abuse/assault, and the old nature vs free will issues that abo brings up. 
> 
> A lot of people getting mad at Kylo last chapter... he is a bit of a back and forth character, moments of terrible jealousy and selfishness with glimpses of a different kind of man at other time, someone he could have been, in a different world, maybe. The light and dark of the character is one of the things I love most about Kylo/Ben
> 
> Let me know what you think! I'm on holiday and have lots of time for writing in the garden, while my wee one plays if the muse remains xoxo


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys, thank you so much for your kind comments, I love reading them!
> 
> Today it's a short chapter... but that's because its double day! That's right, two updates coming, so first one is a little short, but seemed the only natural place to spilt. 
> 
> Let me know what you think, your predictions etc! We are getting near the end of my projected chapter count, so might have to up it... as I never get around to where I want to be in a small enough number of words! 
> 
> Will work on getting the second one polished up this afternoon xoxo

Catherine finger combed Rey’s hair with single-minded determination, until Rey pushed her away.

“Leave it, it won’t make much difference” she sighed, catching sight of her bedraggled appearance in a mirror mounted over a beautiful wooden dressing table opposite the bed. Her face was a collection of purple and green bruises, a split lip and a black eye. Her shoulder and arm was heavily bandaged, where the bacta wasn’t applied. All in all, she could have been worst.

A single knock sounded at the door, and Catherine rose swiftly. Knocking. That was new, Rey thought, as Catherine opened the door, and she got her first proper glimpse of Kylo in weeks.

Still as tall and broad as she remembered, his expression was sombre, his dark hair caught back and dark eyes moving immediately to hers. Catherine slipped out, with a last glance back at Rey, and the door shutting echoed in the room.

He stood a little awkwardly at the threshold, his eyes running over her, as though cataloguing her injuries.

“You’re awake” he remarked.

“You’re astute” she couldn’t help but answer as he stepped a little closer. His eyes narrowed at her tone.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, and she swallowed, afraid to say anything that would condemn Dopheld further.

“I’ll live” his lips turned up the slightest fraction of an inch at her tone.

“I’m glad”

“Really? I thought you went through all that subterfuge to get me returned to you, just to let me die” she couldn’t help saying. He didn’t rise to the challenge in her tone simply watched her.

“You seem in good spirits, considering”

“I don’t break easily, as you know” she stated, tilting her chin up at him. He approached the bed, and peered down at her over his crossed arms.

“I’m glad, little one” he said quietly, and Rey cut off their shared gaze, as his heated with some kind of affection that made her cheeks flame.

“I didn’t ask you here just to – whatever this is” she said abruptly, waving her hand between them.

“I want to know how Dopheld is” she said, and saw all trace of joking and amusement fall from Kylo’s face.

“He is being provided for”

“His injuries?”

“Treated” he said shortly, turning to look out her window. The room featured a whole wall off them, showing pale blue sky with scattered clouds, and the skyline of Ventrios Prime.

“I want your reassurance that no harm will come to him from you” she said plainly. Kylo turned to raise an eyebrow at her, and then shrugged, and turned back to the window.

“Very well. You have it” he said easily. Too easily. She thought on her words.

“I mean, I want reassurance that nothing is going to happen to him at all, given what happened the night he captured me” she stated more clearly. This time, Kylo’s shoulders rose up a fraction of an inch, and he didn’t turn as he spoke.

“Mitaka is a member of the First Order. Despite our personal relationship, or any fondness I might feel for the man, he failed in a critical mission”

“It wasn’t his fault”

“And yet, you lie here like that”

“If it’s anyone’s fault it’s yours” she accused.

“He endangered your life, and he will pay for it, with his own” Kylo said, his voice was flat, devoid of emotion and she wished she might see his face, to know what he was thinking.

“No! He won’t. He was only trying to carry out your deranged orders”

“I never told him to touch you, to drug you. I would never have made you vulnerable, without begin there to protect you”

“You mean to take advantage of my vulnerability. What about this then? Doesn’t this make me vulnerable?” she asked, gripping the collar. His eyes flickered over it.

“Not if you stay where you are supposed to be, at my side… like you belong” they stared at each other a long, strained moment.

“You are not going to kill Dopheld, or harm him in any way” she said, finally breaking their deadlock.

“Are you asking me or telling me?”

“I’m asking you. Don’t kill the only omega I know”

“His sentence has been decided. It’s too late for him.”

“If it’s too late for him – then it’s far too late for you. If you do this… I’ll never forgive you” she bit out, and Kylo’s eyes darkened, fastening on her with intensity. There was much unsaid there, much that she didn’t realise she felt, until she’d said the words. All she knew was that she had to stop him from harming another omega, a man who she had started to consider a friend, or sorts.

“Why do you care so much about his fate? Why do you care about him so much” he suddenly demanded, stepping closer to her, and looming over her.

“I don’t, except that he is an omega and –“

“And what?” Kylo said roughly.

“I want to see if you can be merciful. I want to understand… what you are capable of, even just a little. I’ve seen the worst – show me the best.” she said honestly. Her answer seemed to silence him. He stopped his slow advance and stared at her, a frown furrowing his brow.

“I want to see if I am really a person to you… or just a trophy to be won” she said finally.

His hands clenched at his sides, and he seemed caught between too many things to say, and nothing, all at once. He looked at her as though she were the most complex puzzle he had ever seen, one he couldn’t decipher. And then, just when she thought he might speak, he turned on his heel, and left, closing the door quietly behind him, without a backwards glance.

 

* * *

 

 

Her evening meal was delivered by a beta she didn’t know, who didn’t speak to her. They left her in silence, after locking the door behind. She couldn’t find the energy inside to care, she was too exhausted to try and escape, and with the collar back on, she felt hope slowly squeezing from her.

The conversation she had overheard kept playing in her mind, she couldn’t get it out. It had given her so many questions, she didn’t know how to start to understand the situation she was in, or the man who held her captive.

One thing she couldn’t deny, she had felt grateful that he had come, she had felt safe with him. That scared her, more than anything else.

He finally returned, while she was watching the sunset.

Tendrils of pink and gold spread across the sky, the wall of floor length windows framing the beautiful sight, as she sat up in bed and watched.

Kylo once again knocked before entering, and when he did, he came to stand beside her bed, also looking out of the window at the falling sun.

“Are you going to move me, once I’m better?” she asked, already dreading being back underground.

“No” was all he said, and relief blossomed in her chest. It wasn’t just that she didn’t have to go back to the hated bunker room, but it was a concession of some kind, even if he wasn’t admitting it. She turned her head to take him in, suddenly seeing him whole. He was dressed strangely, in long, black robes, that came down his arms, were belted tightly at his waist, and fell into split pieces around his legs. He looked like a knight from a tale of old, the ones her mother had loved to read her. He saw her watching him and read her curiosity.

“We have a visit to make… I thought to wait longer, until you were healed but – it has to be now” he said, his voice was strangely muted, as though he were displeased, but hiding it.

“Where?” she asked, knowing he wouldn’t answer.

“Not where… who” he said, surprising her. He pointed to the wardrobe hidden in the wall.

“You will find clothes there to wear, please just put them on.” His tone resigned, and she supposed he was expecting her to refuse to spite him.

“Kylo?” she said, his name feeling strange on her lips. He looked up at her, seeming almost surprised by her soft tone. They held a shared gaze a long moment, and Rey took a deep breath and asked what she was most worried about. The thing that would chart the course of their relationship.

“Dopheld?” she asked, after a long moment. He stared at her, a muscle twitching on his cheek, his hazel eyes warm on her for the moment.

“Home with Catherine… as you wished” he said finally, and Rey felt a great weight shift from her shoulders.

“I might be a monster, and I am certainly a killer. I’ve done things that no one could ever be forgiven for… but I am not without mercy.” He said quietly. Rey felt a real smile rise to her lips, just the slightest softening, while her heart beat loudly. He stepped closer to her, looming over her, and with a sudden movement, perhaps realising how tall he was over her prone form, knelt by her bedside, bringing them level.

“And I do see you Rey Niima. You are a person to me. Brave and strong and full of light. I am a creature of darkness, yet nature and fate have bound us together.” It was hard to meet his gaze, hard to process his words.

“So, what are you saying? If I’m angry – take it up with fate?” she asked. He smiled suddenly and it was a shocking thing. His whole face transformed from its usual

dark and foreboding cast, his brown eyes were warm, his lips stretched in a grin.

“Worth a shot” he said.

“Is that what you’re going to do?” she muttered, seeing him stand back over her, straightening his long legs so far it seemed he might not stop.

“No” he simply replied, folding back her covers so she could swing her legs around.

“Why not?”

“Because… I’m not angry”. Was all he left her with, and the implications of it, as he went to the wardrobe and drew out black robes, similar to his, but more feminine.

“Who are we going to see?” she asked, not wanting to linger on the topic of Dopheld. It was shocking, that he had listened to her, followed her wishes, even just a tiny bit. It was probably a game, she reasoned, as she worked off her loose medical gown, and let it pool around her waist, facing away from Kylo. There was little point in modesty, and yet, the thought of his eyes on her bare skin made it burn.

“Someone very special to me” he said hesitantly. She pulled the black gown off the hanger with one hand, and realised there was no way she could work it on without another hand.

“I- need help” she finally admitted, turning to see Kylo was watching her, his predatory gaze on her naked back, his eyes dark.

“Allow me” he said, coming to stand behind her. Her skin prickled at the sudden warmth of him, standing so close she could feel his robes brush her bare skin. He slowly lent forward and reached for the garment in her hand, the movement bringing his face close to the nape of her neck, warm air scorching across her gland. All the blood in her body seemed to rush there, as she felt him pause, the slightest brush of his full lips over that engorged skin, always raised in his presence.

She recalled his words, how it felt to be near her, when all he wanted to do was claim her, for them to be one, as biology was driving them to be and in that moment, she felt it too, inside her, deeper than blood and bone and sinew. Biology, nature, fate.

But she was more than that, she strove to be more, and as Kylo leaned away, his hand taking the gown, the presence of him at her back lessening, as he retreated, and realised that he was too. No matter her opinion on his barbaric tactics and needless bloodlust, he was overcoming his biological drives when he was around her, with every moment he left her unmated. It was hardly for himself, he had admitted that he desired to bond, therefore, it must be for her. It was a sobering thought.

 

He didn’t speak, as he lowered the material over her head, his strong hands carefully pulling the material over her injuries, more gently than she would have guessed possible.

The gown fell down around her ankles, and his hands moved to her hips a moment, only a heartbeat, where he seemed to lean into her again, and then, was gone.

 

When she turned around, his face was impassive, as he pulled black slippers from the wardrobe, and laid them by her feet. Rising, he nodded toward the door. The long robes were weighty around her legs, and she pulled them to the side to walk. She looked down at her bare feet, slipping them into the cool, flimsy shoes.

“No running in those shoes, little one” Kylo’s voice was quiet and contemplative.

“I don’t need shoes to run” Rey said, pulling her skirts to the side to walk. The material bunched, and she kicked it out.

“I am well aware.”

“This is too big”

“Good, it’ll slow you down” Kylo said, closing a hand around her upper arm, as they reached the door. She cast a scathing look up at him.

“Looking for an advantage over a little omega?” she sneered at him, but he merely gave her a small smile.

“When _you_ are that omega? Always. Besides, we both know you are far from powerless, Rey” They walked down a light hallway, followers in black walking to and fro with purpose, though none looked at Rey and lowered their heads to Kylo.

“I’m hardly powerful, with this on” she complained, her good hand rising to her collar.

“I beg to differ” he said, as they stepped out into a new evening. The air smelled fresher for once, a soft, cool breeze blowing through the gardens of the Tower.

A ship sat waiting. This was no decommission x-wing. This was top of the line, tech that Rey had never seen. It was small, but looked fast. The door slid up as they approached, and Rey saw only two seats, one in front of the other.   

“After you” Kylo said, as he held out a hand to help her into the back seat. She accepted, sliding into the smooth, soft seat, looking around in fascination at the inside.

“You understand the necessity” Kylo said, leaning over her, and carefully handcuffing her wrists together, and then to a bar below the seat, meaning she had to widen her knees slightly and lean forward to keep the pose. Kylo smiled down at her.

“Beautiful” he remarked, climbing into the front seat, and settling himself, the door sliding shut smoothly behind him.

She scowled at the back of his neck, carving murder into his skin. She reached out a little with her mind, tentatively reached for the feeling of Kylo, the force bond. He tutted loudly in front, as the ship started up, the console flashing into colour around them, and he started to take off.

“You were able to use the force through me, Rey, because I let you. It is not something that could happen again, without my participation… if that is what you are thinking” he said. Rey’s heart fell, she had been thinking about how she might be able to get the collar off again.

“And as for that… I won’t be so – trusting – again” he said, with finality.

“Get out of my head” she said, annoyed that he was seeing more of her thoughts that she wished him to know.

“Make me” came the short reply. Silence fell between them, as they rose steadily into the air, and Rey jiggled the restraints half-heartedly.

“I’m surprised you let me defend myself with your power at all” Rey mused, as the city fell beneath them, and they moved over neighbourhoods, spidery constellations of lights in the darkness.

“If we were to pair bond, we would share each other’s power to an even greater extent, I believe.”

“You don’t know?”

“No one living really knows. The force bond is an ancient thing. Much knowledge of it is lost, if it was ever known.” He was quiet, and she thought he had finished answering her, but then he spoke again, quieter still.

“I had little choice but to let you in. I do not wish you dead, or hurt.”

“I thought you were going to punish me brutally, you threatened to that night. It was the reason I left the Resistance with little preparation” she admitted. His hands, in black leather gloves, tightened on the controls.

“After the scene I happened upon, I find myself disinclined to inflict more harm. My vengeance is – sated” he said flatly. Rey turned his words over in her mind. Her heart, already programmed to be open to him, was warming at his concessions. He had seemed to do nothing but concede to her, since she had awoken. Her silvery thread of happiness, the bond, happy that it’s future mate was caring for her, and then her practical nature, that warned of caution, jangled together discordantly.

“It won’t work. This good person act. I see through it. I won’t forget who you really are, and I won’t forget myself either” she said curtly, her mind drifting back to the conversation she’d overheard.

“You seem very sure. To know oneself is the most difficult thing. Perhaps you can teach me” he said it lightly, but there was a wistfulness there.

“I never took you for the kind of person to have an identity crisis.”

“Me neither, I thought that I was confident in who I am. Who Kylo Ren had to be… and then, I met you.” He said, and Rey saw his eyes on her reflection in the glass before him.

“Since then, from time to time… I forget” it was quiet, just above a murmur, but unmissable. Rey swallowed hard, the conversation veering once more into uncomfortable territory.

“Who is Ben?” she said suddenly, the question surging up inside her, pushing out her lips before she could prevent it.

There was little reaction from Kylo that she could see, perhaps the slightest tightening of his shoulders. However, the bond throbbed richly with pain and shock. Hurt and worry swirled through her from it, guilt and a sadness more acute that Rey had felt in a long time filled her. If she closed her eyes, she could almost hear a comforting humming, soft and gentle, and the feeling of fingers running through her hair. _Ben._

And then, it was gone, a strange nothingness in its place.

“We are here” Kylo’s voice was collected and distant, and Rey could almost believe she had imagined that shadow of memory, soft and beautiful, tinged with unbearable sadness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like some were expecting a deal type scenario, or Kylo to be more angry... but I've done the deal scenario in other fics, and wanted to try out another way. 
> 
> This Kylo I feel, would still see a deal as 'forcing' Rey, and the alpha pride part of him wants her to want him, like he wants her..and no other motivation will do. 
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you think! Where are they going? ;)


	12. Chapter 12

Wherever they landed was black as pitch outside. The air felt colder as Kylo took Rey’s restraints off, and wrapped a hard hand around her arm. He started them forward, and Rey stumbled beside him, aware that a change had come over her captor. He was distant and forbidding once more, and she tried her best to keep up with him, as his long legged gait carried them over dark gravel, the crunch under her soft slippers the only thing she could hear in the still night.

They entered a building, a heavy door swinging out in the dark, spilling red tinged light from inside.

It was old and crumbling, the sort of building Rey had never really seen, except in stories. While the streets of the Vaults were decrepit and run down, they were still recognisable as housing units, made from the same materials as newer ones were, just more dated. This building, however, was like something out of those old story books, and suddenly, Kylo Ren’s knightly robe seemed to fit.

Towering stone corridors, lit with actual flaming torches lined their way, as Kylo walked swiftly at a slight decline.

Their shadows danced on the walls around them, and a new coldness seemed to emanate from the lower levels, as they descended. Rey shivered, suddenly cold in her heavy robe. She felt Kylo’s end of the bond notice her discomfort, and for a moment, she felt a flash of his emotion. Coiled nerves and sickening dread filled her, like the flicker of the candles surrounding them, and was gone, in an instant, all the while, the taciturn giant beside her never flinched.

They came to another set of doors, and as they approached, they began to open. Two followers in black, these ones with red mantles, fitting the period of the building, pushed them open and stood on either side. They showed no deference to Kylo, unlike the followers at the Tower. Inside, a moonlit chamber with a reddish fire, burning in a tall hearth greeted them. There were more of the red dressed followers, and in the middle, a risen dais, where a man sat, looking imperiously down at them as they approached.

Rey focused on the figure, memory tickling her as his features gradually came into focus, in the dim light, and felt time stand still for a moment.

Before her sat the highest official in all of Ventrios Prime, Snoke, alive and well, it seemed. She couldn’t take it in, couldn’t quiet grasp the implications, and was only further perplexed as Kylo stopped before the dais, and dropped onto one knee, his head bowed.

“Master. I have brought you the girl, as requested” he said emotionlessly. Rey could only stand there and stare, as the man she had watched on the holonet address the city, as it’s Prime Minister, it’s most trusted protector, smiled down at Kylo with something approaching affection.

“Well done, my young apprentice. I knew her escape would not confound you for long” he murmured, the voice familiar to Rey from the countless news broadcasts she had watched of the man.

“Welcome, omega” Snoke said, shifting his focus onto her. His scent hit her then, a flare of alpha, fetid and gross in strength. She swallowed hard, feeling her eyes almost water. Snoke tracked her every moment, his shrewd eyes trained on her with frightening intensity. Her mind was a muddied tangle of thoughts. Snoke was supposed to be a beta, the beta who had united the government after the brutal murder of the previous Prime Minister, the very crime Kylo Ren had been sent to the Barrens for. Unease uncoiled in Rey’s stomach, as she started to grasp just how deep and far-reaching the First Order’s regime was.

“Yes, young Rey – your intellect does you credit. We stand here today, victors over a helpless Ventrios Prime, because of efforts made over years, and dreams thought up lifetimes ago” He had the force, Rey could feel it, rising off him like steam off hot water, thick and scorching in it’s strength.

“Rise, Kylo Ren. Stand beside your prize” Snoke said, gesturing with a withered hand. Kylo stood slowly beside Rey, not touching her, and yet, the warmth of his arm, the solidity of it was strangely comforting, when everything else felt like it was tilting out of control.

“And what a prize she is” Snoke said, and Rey couldn’t tell whether he was disapproving or not. She preferred that he was, in that moment, and she knew Kylo did too, as a sudden flare of protectiveness burned on his end of the bond. Snoke chuckled.

“Calm, Ren. I have no need of your scavenger orphan. There are omegas aplenty.”

“Master” was all Kylo said.

“But she is important – once you have quashed the pathetic resistance, and your rule over Ventrios Prime is absolute, you and she will be an example to all the alphas of the city, your kin, finally freed from their shackles. An alpha and omega mating is holy, the duty, to beget children, sacred. You will set that example for them, Kylo Ren.” Snoke was saying.

“When the alphas of Ventrios Prime see your omega, round with your seed, fulfilling her destiny… they will welcome your rule, for we shall provide them with the omegas they desire”

“There are other omegas?” Rey blurted out. Both men seemed to still, Kylo in caution, and Snoke with surprise. He smiled, a long, slow, malevolent thing.

“Why, of course… hasn’t Kylo Ren told you? My my, what secrets we keep from our mate, Ren… though, it is unimportant. Your role is hardly to advise, it is to breed. Let us play to our strengths” he said mockingly. His tone was so cruel, Rey wondered how she didn’t realise before, how goading and self-satisfied he sounded.

“Master – the omega’s of-“

“I have heard your opinion on the matter, and sadly, must still disagree. The men must be motivated to accept First Order as their rulers, what incentive have they at present. All we have done is protect the weak -  which brings me to the second order of business. All First Order intervention in the city of Ventrios Prime is to cease.”

“When the rising happened, no one protected the alphas and omegas from being conditioned or medicated, no one protected them from losing their families or their homes, lives destroyed in single moments. Survival of the fittest is the law of nature, and we have come this far to return nature to balance.” Snoke said, sitting up taller in his chair, seeming emboldened by his stark words.

“The weak will perish, and strong will live, and society will be reformed, better.”

“You would let the unconditioned, unmedicated alphas roam the streets, terrorising and raping whoever they find – unpunished? That’s the lofty mission of the First Order?” Rey said, before Kylo could stop her. He shot her a furious look, which she ignored in favour of glaring at Snoke.

“Master – it is not the tactic we had planned” Kylo ground out.

“Plans change. I had not fully understood the rotten core of this city, and the darkness that lives in the heart of each of its citizens, before now. Now, I see with perfect clarify. To make a new world, the old one must be reformed in flame and violence. Death brings life. Teach your little pet not to address me so, or I shall do it for you” Snoke said, his voice hardening toward the end. Kylo turned to Rey, and gripped her face, the leather creaking as he squeezed her jaw. Rey stared at him in shock, pressure mounting in her face, as Kylo stared dark and distant eyes down at her.

“Hold your viper’s tongue” he muttered at her. Tears filled her eyes unbidden, the gesture was so surprising, and she realised then, that she didn’t expect violence from him, not toward herself, at any rate, and she felt strangely betrayed. She was his captive, she reminded herself. She was just lucky he didn’t hurt her more often. She couldn’t forget it. He was a self-proclaimed monster, after all. But still, the tears fell, streaking across his fingers, as his empty eyes followed them, seeming to grow more and more vacant all the while.

“A tepid reprimand, but it will suffice, for a first offence. Pull back the units from the streets. Let Ventrios Prime devour itself, and emerge reborn. Whoever survives will be part of the new order, a city built as nature intended, where the strong rule, and the weak serve” Kylo had let go of her face, and she dropped it in humiliation, not for being hurt, she had experienced far worse, but for crying about it. She had shown him her hurt feelings and that was inexcusable. There was a long pause, heavy and expectant, and Rey glanced to the side to see Kylo’s face focused on his hand, and the trail off her own tears, drying on his skin. After a moment, he seemed to collect himself.  

“Yes Master” he said, raising his eyes back to Snoke’s. The older man’s displeasure seemed to vibrate around the room.

“I sense conflict, my young apprentice. What ails you?”

“Nothing, my master. I remain your pupil, and benefit from your wisdom” Kylo intoned, with such familiarity, Rey wondered how many times he had said it.

“And yet-“

“There would seem to me to be a difference, between weakness and innocence” Kylo said. Rey was surprised by his words, but she peeped up to see Snoke nodding.

“Of course, for that is _your_ weakness, Kylo Ren. You have your father’s heart – your mother’s teachings… for liberty and equality and all those high-minded ideals that landed Ventrios Prime where it is today, and the both of them dead in the ground” Snoke said cruelly. Kylo didn’t flinch, merely bowed his head.

“Yes, Master”

“Perhaps you need reminding – perhaps my teachings have not given you that vital component so necessary to understanding, frequently enough, the dark at the heart of people”

“No. It is not necessary” Kylo said immediately.

“Well now… you have shown me it is. Step closer, Kylo Ren” Snoke said, and Kylo did as he was asked, but she could feel his reluctance.

“Why do you resist your master?” Kylo glanced to Rey, and Snoke nodded in understanding.

“You worry your little prize will be hurt? It is better she understands your true nature now, and learn how to please you, than later, when she is heavy with child, and so very breakable. The mission above all else” Snoke was saying, reaching out a hand toward Kylo’s temple.

Rey suddenly had the most overwhelming urge to pull him back, to stop that decrepit hand from touching Kylo, and instead, all she could do was watch, as those, long pale fingers made contact. Snoke’s voice deepened, and seemed to fill the cavernous room they stood in.

“Kylo Ren, you shall claim your mate, and plant seed within her, to grow sons with power in the force that has not been seen for generations. You will do this because it is your destiny, and your Master’s wishes. She is not your equal but your possession, as nature demands, and you will feel no guilt for your use of her.”

Rey felt the force bond inside her pulse with darkness, a turgid black swelling suddenly push at her from Kylo’s side. Pain radiated through her, though she tried her best to remain unmoved. The darkness swarmed, alive and full of malicious intent, sticky and hot, it burned at her, while she tried to shut it off, to distance herself from it. She glanced to Kylo. His eyes were closed, veins on his neck stood out, straining, as he ground his teeth. She only ever felt a fraction of his emotions through the bond. What she had felt had almost overwhelmed her. How he was still standing, she couldn’t begin to fathom.

Minutes rolled by, as Kylo absorbed the dark force energy Snoke fed into him, and when he finally opened his eyes, Rey saw they were completely black.

“Go forth my apprentice, and convey our message to the word. You are my body, and through you, I will enact the will of justice on the people of Ventrios Prime” Snoke voice was euphoric, filled with greed and lust and pleasure. She could barely stomach it, as Kylo reached out to touch her, his hands closing around her arm.

“It will be done” even Kylo’s voice was different, lower and more unearthly, as he bowed low, and turned them both around. They left the chamber, and Rey was relieved to feel the sickening presence of Snoke fading as they rose back toward the ship.

“Kylo? What was that?” she whispered, as they left the hateful building behind, and once again went out into the night. Kylo didn’t answer her, merely dragged her toward the ship, the door already opening, as they approached. She climbed in, sensing the futility of trying to speak to him, after the dark force energy he had just absorbed. He was so far removed from her, he seemed like another person. He strapped her hands together again, and bound her to the bar, and without a glance at her face, whirled around and climbed lithely into the pilot’s seat.

The ship powered up, and they rose steadily. Rey looked out the window, busying herself by trying to work out where they could be. She had so many questions, she didn’t know where to start, but feared answers would be a long time coming, if ever. Still, she thought on them, Snoke’s term as Prime Minister, after the convenient murder of his rival. Kylo Ren’s escape, too smooth not to have had help from powerful allies, even the supplies the First Order had, were far beyond what a simple terrorist group might attain.

She let her mind ponder those questions, avoiding the growing dread in the pit of her stomach. She recalled that night, when Kylo had returned from his ‘training’, and bent her over, pressing his attentions on her with dark intent and ruthless urgency. He had stopped, before hurting her, but tonight, he was fuelled by that same darkness, but worse, far worse, than then.

They started to descend, far before Rey was ready to be alone with Kylo, and soon, he was getting out, and freeing her hands. His eyes remained black as the night beyond, and she was scared to meet them. The Tower gardens were deserted, except for sentries, as he pulled her across the lawn, and into the building. The corridors seemed too short as they approached her new rooms.

“Kylo? Are you ok?” she tried, as they nearer her door. He didn’t reply, merely unlocked her door and pushed her inside. She stumbled into the middle of the room, and turned, hoping that he would simply lock her in, and leave, but saw his broad shoulders outlined in the light from the hall, as he stepped inside, and shut the door after him. The lock engaged in the silence between them. The room was dark, only pale moonlight filtering in through the gauzy material that covered the floor length glass.

Kylo was utterly still. She stared at him, tentatively feeling out for him in the force bond. She recoiled from what she found, a jagged swollen bruise of feeling. Nothing of his usual energy was present.

“Kylo?” she tried once more, swallowing twice to move the lump in her throat.

“Omega” he said, a low, grating sound that scraped her insides. He stepped toward her, and she instinctively stepped back, keeping the same distance between them. He stopped, cocked his head at her, his face still blank.

“You will submit to your alpha” he said, in that same tone, and advanced once, this time, his movements taking on a predatory cast, as he stalked her around the furniture she attempted to put between them. His eyes narrowed, as she continued to elude him. Finally, he stopped, and raised a black gloved hand, and she felt herself freeze, surrounded by the force. He slowly approached.

“Kylo – stop – you said you didn’t want to hurt me” she was able to say, as he started to take off his heavy knightly robes. His pale, muscle strewn body appeared, piece by piece, and finally, he stood naked before her, a testament to strength and power. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, as he reached forward for her own clothes.

“Please don’t” she murmured, as her robe was lifted over her head, and then, her underwear drawn efficiently off.

“Do not fight your destiny, Rey. You are mine, it is written. The sooner you accept it, the easier it will be” his voice was still low and grating, but he had said her name, and for some reason, she took heart in that. He picked her up, his hands almost coldly efficient on her, and put her on the bed.

Standing over her, he almost seemed carved from marble so emotionless and still he was. Then he was moving, prowling over her, and she felt her body relax, released from his control and immediately brought her hands up to brace against his chest, stopping him.

“Kylo, stop. Snoke did something to you, don’t you feel it, inside?” she said.

“He reminded me of our purpose”

“What was that? I could feel it in the force…”

“It is the dark hearts of people and the evil they do. It is the suffering of all who have lived in fear these past years, all those who lost their lives in the Rising… families, mothers, children…” Kylo’s voice changed on that last word, a hint of him shining through.

“She is there – your mother, Rey. Did you feel her?” he said, startling her. She stared at him, pain twisting in her chest, though he didn’t seem to notice, nothing cracking his impassive façade. His head lowered to her neck, and he started to kiss her, pressing his lips against her flushed skin, as her words took over her mind. His hands moved along her sides, caressing her rib cage, and dancing over her stomach, reaching up to brushing her nipples, teasing them into hard peaks.

“Stop – Kylo, stop” she gasped, even while his touch sent pleasure spiralling through her body, nerves throbbing, anticipation prickling. She had dreamed of being in his arms, all her lonely nights in the Vaults. The omega inside her purred under his attentions, and she felt herself growing wet, her scent slipping into the air. Kylo growled lowly, sending more slick out, as he slid down the bed, and pressed his face between her legs, and inhaled deeply, a low rumble in his chest approving. She felt his lips moving over her inner thigh, licking a path toward her centre, and fell back, torn between the need her body had to embrace the fire he was kindling inside her, and the other, her mind, that screamed at her that the man above her was still tainted by whatever Snoke had done to him. That he wasn’t himself. That shouldn’t matter, because she shouldn’t want him, Kylo Ren, at all, but she couldn’t lie to herself. It mattered.

His tongue found her, and she arched up, into his waiting hands, that slipped around her behind, and gripped her firmly, pulling her down, as he rose up, and worked himself back over her. His eyes were still dark as pitch, as they had been after Snoke’s force transfer, and her breath hitched, fear lancing through her arousal.  In a last ditch attempt to reach him, as she felt everything spiralling out of her reach, she brought her hands up into his hair, threading through the strands. She recalled the hint of memory she had felt from him. The warm, gentle reassurance of compassion, a feeling of wholeness, surrounded by maternal love, and pushed it at that pained, stinging end of the force bond with all her might, as she met those black eyes, and breathed out slowly, injecting the essence of that feeling that he remembered, into one word.

_“Ben”_

He froze under her touch, while her fingers kept their gentle rhythm, sorting through his black locks. He remained still on top of her, staring with those black eyes, his arms held taut on either side of her head, locked in position.

_“Ben… come back”_ she improvised, pushing that feeling into her words, and at the bond. She imagined what she had felt for her own mother, that endless, limitless love, total acceptance and gratitude. He closed his eyes, his face was pained suddenly, the first crack of emotion she had seen for an hour, shining through. 

His arms suddenly bent, and he was lowering himself down on top of her, like all the air had gone out of him. She grunted softly at the pressure, and then, wrapped her arms around his shoulders, as his face tucked into the nook of her neck and shoulder. She felt him exhale in a great rush against her skin.

_“Shhhh… Ben”_ she hummed into his ear, feeling guided by some inner instinct. She felt the bond inside her, the black balloon of hate and filth, violence and anger, burst, like a popped bubble, washed away by the feeling she fed into it, pure, golden kindness.

She felt Kylo again, felt his sadness, and guilt, his loneliness, bone-deep. It resounded in her soul, a wail of her own isolation answering its mournful cry. Like calling like.

He gradually turned his face to hers, his eyes surprised and vulnerable, brown and clear, truly his again, his face mere inches away from hers, and looked at her with wonder. The force bond between them swelled, and snapped into place hard, a click that felt like it echoed in her bones. Connection.

He leaned forward, only an inch or two, but it was enough to close the gap between them, and brushed his lips lightly against hers. It was a question, a request, and she answered, her heart overruling her head, opening her lips, and kissing him back. His lips moved over hers with passion, and she could feel his affection for her, through the bond. It was terrifying and elating at the same time. His mouth moved to her jaw, and he pressed tender kisses along the line of it, where he had gripped it, in front of Snoke.

“Forgive me” he whispered against her skin, and she was shocked to feel herself soothed by his words. Who were these people, she wondered wildly, in the part of her brain still able to form coherent thoughts. This couple who craved each other, this couple who cared. It couldn’t be her, and it couldn’t be Kylo Ren. Neither were capable.

She felt a tear slip down her cheek as the impact of everything that had happened that night caught up with her. Her capture and the attack on her and Dopheld. Her visit to Snoke, and almost losing her tenuous feelings of safety around the man who held her captive. Her realisation that the connection between them was so much more than she realised, so much more than she could even run from. That was truly terrifying. Perhaps the most ground breaking, the acceptance that that man who was holding her, had worked his way into her heart, in some way, and there was a very real part of her believed in the good in him. That saw it, clear as day, a reluctant fundamentalist, with his banned books and dreams of balance, bloodied hands and wearied soul. A man who had lost everything in the Rising, as had she, and endured the fires of a hellish existence and the grooming and attention of a man who commanded a power, darker than she had known existed. The poison Snoke had been feeding to Kylo would be enough to rot anyone’s soul, corrupt even the purest of hearts. Rey didn’t doubt that, she could feel it. She thought back to Kylo words, how he had felt her mother’s pain, in that black abyss, and the pushed that thought away. Her mother was gone, her soul at peace, and to believe anything else, was to know madness.

“Do you wish me to leave?” Kylo murmured against her skin, his mouth now against her neck, and the drumming pulse there.

“Say the word, and I’ll go” he continued. She felt her arms tightened thoughtlessly around his shoulders.

“Don’t go” she said finally, as he raised his eyes to hers and watched her. They stared at each other in the moonlight, and Rey felt then, there was some line being crossed, something monumental about to be decided. That night had brought to her the understanding that there was true evil in the world, and Kylo Ren was not it.

“Stay” she said, when he failed to move, and then, leaned up on her elbow, and pressed a kiss onto his forehead. She leaned back, and lay flat, rewarded with a look of utter disbelief on Kylo’s face.

“I want you to stay” she said, more confidently that time, and reached out for his neck, pulling him back down, atop her.

That seemed to jolt him from his shock, and he wasted no time in rekindling the pleasure that he had been sending through her body, hands digging into her hips, fingers slipping between her legs, to dip inside her, and circle her clit, making her writhe and gasp. His hands kneaded her breasts, his lips closing over her nipples, moving from one to the other, until the sensations overwhelmed her and she pushed him back. When he slid inside her, eased by her abundant slick, her muscles already clenching to feel him inside, she felt the fear and loneliness she carried about with her recede completely. Here, with him, her mate, she felt whole, balanced, in a way she never had.

He slid onto his knees, and pulled her up astride him, his strong arms easily holding her weight, rising and lowering down on to him. Her breasts brushed against his chest, and her arms curled around his neck, and they were face to face. His hands gripped her bottom, as he lifted, and dropped her, tenderly, carefully. He never speeded up, nor slowed down, just watched her, as he relentlessly pulled pleasure from her. Her head fell back the first time she came, and he kissed and bit up her neck, as he pulled every bit of pleasure from her body.

The second time, she never lost eye contact with him, as he drank in her every expression, watching her with hunger.

The third time, he let her push him back, and sit on top of him, and she pulled his hands up to his head, and pushed his wrists into the mattress. He groaned in torment as she set her own pace, her breasts swinging before his eyes, face contorting, her body serving her own pleasure, and when she came, her muscles clamping down hard on him, he followed with a shout, rough and visceral, pulled involuntarily from his chest. His knot swelled, and joined them together. He gathered her in his arms, and pulled her to his chest. His heart was beating hard, and she laid her ear against it, listening to the proof that indeed, he was no monster. He was just a man.

He played with her hair, softly gathering it, and letting it fall, making her drowsy.

“Thank you” he said finally, and Rey, on the edge of sleep, just nodded against his chest, without knowing exactly why he was thanking her.

 

* * *

 

Rey stood at the window of her rooms, looking out across the gardens of the Tower, watching training drills occurring. Phasma sipped tea, lounging on Rey’s bed, giving a running commentary of each recruit, which couldn’t fail to bring a smile to Rey’s lips. Catherine had a dry wit that always wrung a smile out of her, even when she was feeling low. When she had woken, Kylo had gone, but a warmness in her chest, the force bond, now complete, and stronger than ever, told her he wasn’t far. It also showed her how he had felt, to wake beside her, and how long he had lain there, watching her sleep, knowledge she quickly shut away. It seemed too personal and made her feel uncomfortable. She may have opened a little to him, she wasn’t ready to feel quite so much, quite so quickly.

He was striding up and down the training lines, with Hux, the loathsome man’s face fixed in a sneer Rey could make out, even from here. Dopheld trotted along behind them.

“Why does Kylo put up with Hux?” she suddenly asked Catherine. Catherine rolled her eyes.

“Hux is a favourite with our Supreme Leader. Kylo can’t stand him. You know… he never did tell anyone what really happened the night you escaped” Catherine said, her eyes lighting up with interest. Rey smirked.

“I shot him with his own blaster” she said, and turned back to the window, as Catherine crowed in triumph.

“That is most excellent news” she hummed, settling back on the plump pillows, looking at Rey speculatively.

“You’re awfully chipper today, as is Ren – just saying. The two wouldn’t happen to be connected, would they?”

“Didn’t he tell you? We’re in love” Rey said flippantly. Catherine sat up, choking on her tea a moment.

“Really?” she gasped out.

“No” Rey deadpanned, and turned to her friend.

“I met your Supreme Leader, last night” Rey explained. Catherine paled at her words, and shifted her shoulders uncomfortably.

“And?”

“And I realised… there are worse things out there than Kylo Ren” Rey said, chewing her lip, as she turned back to watch the towering figure of him walk the field. He looked up to the window, as though she had called to him. They watched each other across the distance.

“If you had to choose who to follow. If you _had to_ \- which would it be?” Rey asked, knowing the question was tantamount to treason to ask, but she also had a hunch about the loyalties of the First Order followers and the Alphas from the Barrens.

Catherine was quiet, and Rey turned to look her, finding her pale and anxious, eyes darting about the room.

“Who?” she pressed quietly. Phasma’s eyes went to the field, where Kylo walked the line with his followers, offering encouragement, praise, advice, same as he did every day.

“You know who” Catherine said finally. Rey nodded, turning back to the scene before her, and the man who held the power to change Ventrios Prime for the better or worse, in his hands.

 


End file.
